A wound on one's back
by a-brittle-heart
Summary: When the struggle of finding meaning still exists even with a given destiny, you can no longer hope to define love without guilt. Still, you persist in sharing destinies; perhaps a meaning doesn't need to exist. [eventual Zoro/OC?]
1. Chapter 1 - Beginnings

**(Disclaimer: nothing is mine except my OCs)**

**This is a story that I've begun writing maybe six years ago and I've always wanted to finish it, so here's my attempt No.2, I suppose. **

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"A wound on one's back is the shame of a swordsman." The green-haired boy said, directing a determined grin at his opponent as he stood in front of him, arms spread wide open as confusion brewed among the spectators.

'_Are you really going to go through with this, Mihawk?' _the blue-haired girl thought, crouching on the roof of the Baratie in an effort to hide from common sight. Though with alternate goals for her current presence at the restaurant, she'd found herself unable to look away from the swordfight that was taking place below. Her captivation seemed highly inexplicable to her, especially given the one-sidedness of the duelists' power levels.

The yellow-eyed swordsman, much unlike everyone else present, wasn't at all taken aback by the words of his young opponent. Though now the world's best, Dracule Mihawk had once too been as recklessly devoted as the youth standing in front of him. And so, with a move of his cross-sword one could describe as both graceful and ferocious, he sliced through the boy's chest and sent him plummeting into the ocean.

"ZOROOOOOOO!" the boy's friends exclaimed, immediately jumping into the water after him.

"Ah, fuck." The girl whispered, shaking her head before she leapt off the roof. There was no point in observing from a hiding spot anymore if it meant the eventual death of a young swordsman.

"It's still too early for you to die. My name is Dracule Mihawk! Discover your true self, the true world, become stronger! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top. Surpass this sword! Surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"

"Theatrical, as fucking always…" a female voice muttered from behind Hawk-Eyes. "Hey, you, with the curly hair!" the girl now yelled at the long-nosed boy which was helping to pull Zoro out of the sea and onto the small boat.

"Huh?" Usopp straightened, turning towards the unfamiliar woman that seemed to be calling him, of all people.

"Use this. It constricts the blood vessels wherever it's applied, so it'll lessen the bleeding and numb the pain a bit." The girl explained, tossing him a small vial filled with some kind of lime-green liquid.

Usopp quickly caught the bottle, but was hesitant to use it, since he was unsure whether the girl that just seemingly appeared out of nowhere should be trusted. "I- umm, I mean… why are you giving me this?" He asked her, trying not to offend (or enrage) her while also hoping to discover her intentions for his now-unconscious crewmate.

"If you're concerned about me poisoning your friend Mr. Chopped Liver, don't worry. I have nothing to gain from the death of a pirate with such a promising future as his." She replied, smiling at the boy in reassurance. "Besides, what other choice do you have? If you don't put medicine on that wound, he'll bleed to death."

Usopp stared at her for a few more seconds, processing her words, and then shook his head slightly, as if clearing his mind of the doubtful thoughts. He applied the liquid to his friend's chest reluctantly, but luckily his skepticism turned out to be a false alarm, since the amount of blood that had been almost pouring out of the wound immediately lessened.

The seemingly random appearance of this strange woman didn't just raise questions with the sniper, however – the yellow-eyed swordsman had been watching her attentively as she conversed with the long-nose boy, and all with a raised eyebrow.

"Mai? What are you doing here? It's like I never expect anything of you, and yet I'm always surprised." He said with reserved astonishment, and perhaps some scold, although it still seemed as if he was rather pleased by the chance meeting.

Just as she went to answer the man, however, the girl – now known as Mai – was interrupted by the sound of the green-haired swordsman coughing up salt-water and blood, much to the relief of those who feared that he wouldn't regain consciousness.

"Luffy… can you hear me?" Zoro almost wheezed, holding up his only remaining sword straight over his head. "Sorry for… worrying you. I know that… if I don't become the world's strongest… I will only embarrass you." He continued, though interrupted by scattered coughs, gasps for air and his friends' warnings.

"Zoro, don't talk!"

"Don't strain yourself further, Big Bro!"

"The guy has a fucking death wish…"

"I swear that I will never lose again!" Zoro vowed through sobs, one hand covering his face while the other stood unexpectedly still above him in promise. "Until the day I fight him and win, I swear… to never lose again! Any problems, Pirate King?!"

"Heehee," Luffy grinned, "nope."

"Wait, so **you're** Monkey D. Luffy?" Mai then asked, turning towards the now-recognized captain. "Should've figured from the hat, I guess. Either way, I've been looking for you."

"Really? How come?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, an odd story, I suppose – a mutual friend of ours told me about you, and I found your story so interesting, that I decided I want to join your crew."

"Who's the friend?" Luffy questioned, already intrigued by the girl's approach.

"Maybe you remember him – Red-Haired Shanks?" She answered, earning a wide grin as pre-verbal confirmation.

"Really? You know Shanks?!" Luffy beamed.

"Yeah, we're… old friends. He told me one time about this boy from his home island who wanted to become the Pirate King and this kid seemed so interesting – and had such admirable conviction, that I felt almost obligated to seek him out. And, well, here I am." She said, smiling. "So, will you accept me into your crew?"

Luffy contemplated for a moment. "Depends. Are you any good?"

"Well, I'm known here and there for stirring up trouble with the Marines."

"Here and there?" the murmuring voice of one of Krieg's pirates interrupted her. "The woman's responsible for the destruction of almost a quarter of their ranks…"

Mai heard the remark and let out a short sigh, making the uncomfortable realization that her reputation still followed her closely behind even after her efforts.

"I know quite some of their base locations and secret hideouts, given that I've spent quite a few of my years sailing the waters of the Grand Line. Oh, and, I'm also pretty handy with potions, poisons and the like." She continued to explain. "What do you say, Luffy?"

"Well, we do need someone who knows a bit about the Grand Line. And we still haven't found a doctor, so your potions will come in handy." Luffy thought out loud. "But I need to see if you're a good person first, so you'll have to prove yourself. You can sail with us, though – you seem like fun!"

"Alright then, that's fair. I hope I won't let you down." She said and grinned at him, hoping to ease the barely existent tension.

"That's up to you. Oh, and can I ask you something?" Luffy said, seemingly in deep thought as if trying to recall some vital information stated ages ago.

"Of course."

"Who was the boy you and Shanks talked about?"

* * *

"Yosaku, you can stop crying now…" Mai said, slightly annoyed by the man's over-dramatization.

"But it was so touching!" the man continued to weep with zero regard to what the girl had just said to him.

"You idiot! How dare you go against the beautiful Mai-chwan~~" the cook said, his eyes surprisingly literally having turned into pink hearts.

The girl simply smiled and got up to check the boat's direction; she knew where Arlong Park was best out of all of them, having crashed the fishmen's raids a few times before. Luffy and Yosaku had by then begun fighting about the Grand Line – whether it was a dangerous hellhole or a paradise for all who seek adventure. Sanji ignored the quarrel as he was preoccupied with swooning over Mai, complimenting her with epithets such as 'the warrior queen of his heart' and 'a beautiful lady of the sea', which the girl in question found a tad overwhelming, but charming, nonetheless. And it wasn't like the cook was far off; her face was symmetrical, with sharp lines and a strong jaw, and her frame was toned, with wide shoulders, strong arms and legs noticeably lean even under her wide cargo pants.

"I can't wait until we get Nami back!" the captain exclaimed, diverting everyone from their previous train of thought.

"But even if we do, we'll still be five people. Isn't that a bit risky? I mean, five people isn't really a crew." Sanji inquired, already questioning the decision-making skills that had led him to joining the Strawhats.

"Ahem!" Mai coughed with faux agitation. "**Six **people."

"Well you're not a part of the crew yet." Luffy stated, his expression staying blank.

"But **I** really wish you were, Mai-chwaaaaan~" Sanji cooed, his appearance once again having caricaturized, now with heart-clouds coming out of the end of his cigarette to compliment his still-barely-believable heart-eyes.

"Maybe not yet, but we'll talk in a few days." Mai said confidently. "You guys would really be risking it all if you enter the Grand Line without me, in any case. It's nothing like East Blue."

"Oh, right! You've been to Grand Line before!" Luffy recalled. "What's it like? Tell us some stories!"

"It's unlike anything you've ever seen before…!"

* * *

Though they were all expecting for the captain to find the most logical solution (as any captain would and _should_) and dock the ship somewhere secluded once they reached the island, the group of young pirates were now absolutely dumbfounded (and reasonably furious) by having found themselves soaring over the trees with no hopes of gaining any sort of control of their quickly plummeting, meant-for-sailing-only vehicle.

"It's like we're flying!" Luffy exclaimed with childlike excitement.

"WE ARE FLYING, DUMBASS!"

Luckily, or rather, unluckily enough, they crash-landed straight into Zoro, who had just at that moment somehow found himself on the beach (through no fault of his own, given his navigational skills – or lack thereof). After giving them all a less-than-pleasant earful about 'almost fucking killing' him or whatever, Zoro soon filled them in on the whole rapidly escalating situation and how Usopp would soon end up killed if they didn't hurry to save him.

"It's too late." A man's voice was then heard from out the forest, his sudden appearance slicing through the already tense atmosphere as if a sharp knife.

"Johnny?"

"Brother Usopp… was killed by sister Nami!" Johnny proclaimed shakily as everyone gasped in horror.

The eerie silence that followed didn't last long, however, as it was soon shattered by Luffy's unrelenting screaming.

"SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Luffy, stop! It's not Johnny's fault!"

While the others took the time to argue, Mai found an opportune moment to slip out and find out for herself whether the bearer of bad news was correct, and her curly-haired almost-crewmate had indeed been killed. Having decided that sneaking about wasn't at all necessary, she instead opted for the easy approach, turning straight towards the Fishmen's main building in hopes of disrupting at least some of their heinous acts before her unofficial crew arrived to kick their asses.

* * *

"I see the troublesome sardines are at it again." A female voice echoed through the park, startling the fishmen.

"Huh? Who said that?!"

"I hoped you'd have remembered me, but I suppose this could very well be a 'long-time-no-see' kind of situation."

"Yajiko? What are you doing here?!" Arlong exclaimed, bolting out of his chair in barely noticeable worry as soon as the figure revealed herself from behind the far wall.

"Am I not allowed to visit?" Mai inquired, a melodic twist in her voice as she strode towards the shark-man.

"Obviously not!" he replied with a fake confidence.

"That's a shame - you know, despite the number of people I've met during sailing, you probably still hold the title of Most Punchable Nose."

"Your feet better be quicker than your tongue." Arlong grit his teeth, "How did you find this place?"

"By chance, mostly - and by the fact that you were boasting about the East Blue villages that were under your rule last time I saw you. We don't _all_ need a prodigal navigator to read a map, you know."

Arlong clenched his fist, "What business do you have in my waters?"

"No business, I'm just here as a- how should I put this…" Mai said, allowing for a pause just as the outer brick wall of the park came crumbling down. "A bad omen."

Her lips outstretched into a smirk as she stepped to her left, making way for an enraged Luffy to pass by her.

"Who's the one called Arlong?"

* * *

The fighting had been going on for quite some time, ever since Luffy landed that punch smack in the middle of Arlong's face and sent him flying across the yard. The bodies of the fishmen were piling up, as the Strawhats (and Mai) tore through Arlong's henchmen. They did not stay unharmed, though, since some of their opponents came better prepared than they'd expected.

A collective gasp was soon heard from all parts of the park, as an abrupt switch in the fight's dynamic came the moment Luffy was sent sinking to the bottom of the sea by Arlong, his feet trapped in concrete. His crewmates, now truly understanding the graveness of the situation at hand, now had to rush through the remainder of the battle in order to save their captain. Sanji fought Kuroobi, Zoro fought Hachi, and Mai had found herself caught up with two eel-like twins, Suriza and Suberidai. Their fighting style was centered around the fact that they had the ability to electrocute their opponent, which proved to be a tad more than a mere nuisance to the girl, especially since the fishmen didn't lack that much in swordsmanship, either.

Mai had previously decided that her most adequate equipment here would be two of the heavy square-shaped swords that laid discarded by some of the long-defeated fishmen; she'd immediately picked them up as soon as she saw the carnage Zoro had done hours prior. Her maneuvers quite obviously showed her skill and stamina, as she swung the swords (weighing in at around a hundred kilograms each) at both her opponents almost as if they were weightless. The only drawback to melee range combat in this case, though, was the fact that, with each blow she landed on the eels, she got shocked with electricity of the same volume.

The constant electrocuting wore her out, though she didn't want to admit it to herself, and Mai was growing more and more agitated, looking to finally end the fight (which had gone on too fucking long anyway, if she had any say in it). In between strikes, she managed to steal a glance at the scene to her side and saw Arlong grinning menacingly while holding a profusely bleeding Zoro by the throat, prompting her to subconsciously grit her teeth with concern.

'_Oh shit, I guess his wound reopened… I better wrap this up quickly and get that guy to a safer place, or he'll bleed to death…!' _she thought, having at that moment gained enough conviction to finally finish the long-stretched fight. With an outward swing of the heavy swords, she felt a painful shock enter through her palms and pass through her body, forcing her to drop to one knee in exhaustion. However, she knew that it was the last she'd have to deal with, seeing the twin eels falling back defeated.

As soon as her fight was over, Mai rushed towards Arlong and, with a too-quick motion, grabbed Zoro by the collar, freeing him from the shark-man's grip and flinging him to safety on a far rooftop; one she, with a few jumps, joined him on seconds after.

"Sorry for throwing you like that." She apologized to the swordsman, scratching the back of her neck in slight embarrassment.

"Yeah, you should be…" he replied in an annoyed tone. "Thanks, though." He added, feeling it would be too impolite to leave out his honest gratitude, though he only managed it through a grunt. "Mai, was it?"

"Yajiko Mai, yes, and you're Roronoa Zoro, if I heard correctly." She said, earning an affirming, though slightly confused, nod. "I watched your big fight." She was quick to explain.

"Ah."

"No, no, it was good, relax – you showed determination; even Mihawk seemed impressed. You should be proud, you know."

"Thanks, but I sort of hoped it would've gone a bit differently." He chuckled, though it sounded more of a cough.

The girl smiled at him, but Zoro was able to notice a certain amount of worry.

"You should really get some rest. I've been sliced by that butter-knife before myself, and it's not a fun experience." She told him as she nudged him on the shoulder, pushing him back to lay down on the less-than-comfortable roof shingles. "Is it okay if I put this on you?" She asked, pulling a vial out from her belt with the same type of green liquid that she had handed to Usopp not that long ago. "You're gonna need it – this shit won't heal easily."

Zoro nodded with a slightly strained look on his face, as if he was trying to remember a detail of an event that was fogged in his memory. "Are you the girl that gave Usopp the medicine?"

"Yeah, I am."

"You called me chopped liver?"

"Mr. Chopped Liver, yes."

"Yeah, fuck you."

* * *

At long last, the crew had defeated Arlong and his crew, setting the island's villagers free from their reign of terror and thankfully gaining back their navigator. A party now raged in celebration to their victory, as they all gathered to sing, dance, drink and feast.

"Hey Sanji, could you make something without meat?" the blue-haired girl asked the cook, obviously shaken by the amount of steaks the captain had just devoured.

"Sure thing, Mai-chwaaaan~~~~" Sanji responded, his heart almost comically aflutter.

"Don' you eaf meaf, Mai?" Luffy asked, barely able to speak due to his mouth being stuffed to a point that seemed miraculous even for him.

"God, Luffy, please consider chewing once in a while." Mai turned to him, chuckling at the sight of his chubby, hamster-like cheeks. "And, yeah, not really."

"How come?" Usopp inquired, taking a bite out of a freshly fried fish that had been generously covered in tartar sauce.

"Well, the folks from the island back home believed that killing animals for personal pleasure would upset the gods and bring misfortune, so they never hunted." She explained, taking a bite out of the pasta that Sanji handed her. "A load of bull crap, if you ask me, but it's turned into a habit. By the way, Sanji, this is **the** best pasta I've ever tasted – do you make the pesto yourself?"

"Of course, Mai-chwan." He answered, nodding as a way of kindly accepting the compliment. "I wouldn't be able to call myself a true chef if I didn't make all of my food from scratch!"

"Well, that's awesome, and I really can't wait to taste more of your food." She replied with a grin.

"Then I will cook for you, my mesmerizingly beautiful warrior queen, until my arms give out and I can no longer hold even a feather!" Sanji exclaimed a tad too excitedly, but still she found it endearing.

"Oh, yeah, Mai!" Luffy called, cutting into the conversation. "The villagers told me you took on some weird eel twins and kicked their ass, and also saved Zoro's!" he stated with strong enthusiasm, earning a kick in the back of the head from the swordsman mentioned. "You really are a good person then, so welcome to our crew!"

Mai grinned at her new captain sincerely, eyes glinting with the joy and excitement that always came with the promise of a new adventure.

"I'm happy to be here!"

"CHEERS!"


	2. Chapter 2 - Almost Executed

**Sorry for the shitty chapter – exams are a bitch. Hopefully I'll be back with something better soon.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Another increase in price? Don't you think it's getting a bit expensive? Raise your price again and I won't be buying your papers anymore." Nami growled at the bird, slipping a gold coin into the satchel around its neck. The bird simply cawed, unwilling to further comment on the pirate girl's rudeness, and flew away, leaving a not-so-welcome parting gift on the ship's railing.

"Damn bird…" Nami huffed, grabbing a paper towel to wipe off the droppings.

"Do you think about anything other than money?" Mai asked, letting out a bored sigh.

"No." Usopp replied in place of the navigator. "And what are you getting so worked up for? It's just a newspaper."

"Daily expenses add up, you know!" Nami said in defense.

"I thought you were done saving money?" Usopp inquired, furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Nonsense! From now on, I'm only saving for myself!"

"Well, at least one of us won't be broke as shit…" Mai said under her breath. "Why are we even talking about this, anyway…?" She recoiled, mostly to herself, and finally decided to get up from the lounge chair that she'd been occupying for quite enough hours now – not her fault Sanji was so keen on bringing her rum-colas…

'_Maybe I could go read a book or something.'_

Barely a few moments after she stood up, Mai was now watching Usopp roll around on the floor screaming about hot sauce with Sanji chasing Luffy in the near vicinity, smacking him on the head with some kind of frying pan, all the while yelling at him about Nami's oranges.

'_How is everything so chaotic? We're a six-person crew, for fuck's sake… How the hell Pops does it, I'll never understand…'_

Amidst all the commotion, Nami noticed a piece of paper sliding out from between the pages of her newspaper, landing just at Mai's feet.

"Um, guys…" Mai called, picking the paper up from the floor to examine it. "You might want to see this."

The moment they all gathered to take a look at the flyer, a collective scream of terror boomed from the Going Merry.

"Shishishi, it looks like we're wanted men now!" the captain exclaimed in excitement rather than concern, which earned him a lecturing punch to the head from the navigator.

"That's not a good thing!" Nami yelled at Luffy, who was rubbing the bump that was left on his forehead seconds ago.

"It's definitely not a good thing, I agree," Mai nodded in support of Nami, "but, um… well, you're sort of wanted men from the moment you let me join your crew, sorry."

"What do you mean…?" Nami inquired, heavily doubting the innocence behind Mai's sheepish grin.

"Mai, do _**you **_have a bounty?" Luffy, on the other hand, asked with glee.

"Well, um, yeah. In fact, I think I have a poster somewhere…" Mai said, already having begun rummaging through the tiny satchel on her belt. A few moments later she pulled out a folded and yellowed piece of paper, which she handed to the captain. Luffy opened it carefully while the others flocked around him to see.

"**400 MILLION BELLI?!"**

"What the hell did you _**do**_?!" Usopp asked, staggering slightly backwards in disbelief and fear.

"Long story short, I've caused a bit of trouble…?"

"A _**bit**_?!"

"That really can't be all there is…" Zoro murmured, squinting his eyes at her with doubt.

"I said long story short, didn't I?" she replied with a chuckle. "Besides, it's not that important right now – we're about to reach that island over there."

"Land ahoy!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I'm gonna need to know about that bounty, Mai." Nami declared, walking up behind her as soon as she finished assigning jobs to the boys – they'd be dropping anchor soon enough.

"You'll find out eventually."

"What a load of crap – and don't lean on the railing, you'll fall over."

"I won't – these are like sacred waters to us, Nami. Nothing bad can happen here." Mai said, jumping up onto the wooden rail.

"What do you mean?"

"They say the man himself still keeps watch around here from time to time."

* * *

"So, this is where the Pirate Era started, huh?" Sanji said, arching a twisted eyebrow.

"Pretty big, isn't it?" Mai replied. "Every time I visit, it seems smaller, though."

"It's gorgeous!" Nami exclaimed. "Look at all these stores!"

"I need to buy some ingredients." Sanji said and quickly turned to walk off somewhere, soon lost into the crowd.

"I want to go see the execution stand!" Luffy said, storming away as well.

"I need to get some supplies as well." Mai stated, though to no one in particular. "See you guys back at Merry."

"I'll need five of your smallest vials, please." The blue-haired girl said, placing a few coins on the wooden countertop. She'd been to this store a few times before, since they had some of the highest quality glasswork she'd ever come across. Everything was handcrafted by the owner from strong, colored sea-glass, and all of their bottles had intricate designs, which helped her organize all of her potions.

"There you go, Miss." The old man said, handing her the vials she'd requested. "And, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"I doubt it, sir." Mai was quick to answer. "I came to Loguetown on a cruise ship. I'd heard from the locals before about your tiny and delicate glass creations, so I had to come and buy some for myself and my family back home."

"Oh, that's very nice to hear, dear." The man said, smiling at her as he brushed away the suspicions. "Have a nice day, then."

"You too, sir." She replied and with a short bow of her head, walked out of the store.

'_Shit, I suppose the poster's been showing up again. Didn't I lay low for long enough? Fucking Marines…Well, at least the old man didn't recognize me. Guess I've got to be careful even outside of the Grand Line. Sheesh…' _

'_Wonder where the others are… We should probably head back to the ship soon…'_ Mai thought as she exited the clothing store, a newly bought wide-brimmed hat casting an almost ominous shade across her face.

"Oh."

"Hey."

"Well, this is convenient."

"Where's Luffy?"

"He said he wanted to check out the execution stand."

"Isn't that just across the town square?"

"Yeah, it's right over there." Nami said, tilting her head to her right.

"And hey, look – some dumbass is about to get himself executed." Mai added, causing the rest to turn their attention towards the tower.

"**WHAT?!**"

"WHAT THE HELL, LUFFY?!"

"What is he doing there?!"

"I'm the man… **who will become the Pirate King!**"

"…Fuck."

* * *

"I can't believe you almost got executed." Mai muttered under her breath, though intentionally loud enough for her captain to hear.

"…Shut up."

"Guess I was wrong," she added, now turning to Nami, "about how nothing bad could happen."

"Hey, at least he survived." Nami replied with a chuckle.

"So, we're heading for the Grand Line, are we? I propose a toast!" Sanji said, catching everyone's attention by dragging out a barrel of sake. "To find All Blue." He stated, placing his heel on the lid.

"To become the Pirate King!"

"To be the world's greatest swordsman."

"To draw a map of the world!"

"T-To be a great warrior of the sea!"

Mai glanced around, hesitantly lifting her leg. "To find the Serpent's Eye."

The sound of wood cracking echoed along the waves, quickly accompanied by the loud cheer of the young pirates that would soon enough send the world into chaos.

* * *

"Oi, Mai, what's that Snake Eye thing?" Zoro asked, a grogginess in his voice heavily implying an impending nap, even more so with his legs lazily slung across a nearby chair.

"I can't get into it right now, sorry." She replied timidly, earning a confused eyebrow raise from the swordsman.

"How come?"

"Do you have a piece of your past that you'd rather not talk about?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Then I would hope you'd understand."

"Alright, jeez…"

"Mai-chwan is so mysterious~!" Sanji cooed, his excitement managing to sneak a quiet chuckle from the girl.

The swordsman, however, didn't find the perverted cook as entertaining; quite the contrary.

"Get lost, dartboard. You're a nuisance."

"Screw you, shithead." The blond barked back.

Choosing to not get dragged into the middle of another one of their swear-offs, Mai decided to instead retreat up into the seclusion of the crow's nest. She'd chosen it as her new sleeping spot a few days ago, having felt a bit claustrophobic in the girls' room – she never did like shared sleeping chambers, and the altitude of the crow's nest allowed her an element of surprise if any danger somehow managed to sneak up on deck. Besides that, she found being so high up above sea-level rather comforting, especially during the early hours of the morning – she had a habit of getting lost in her thoughts, almost to the point of self-detriment, and the chilling air along with the calm lull of the ship beneath made for a perfect surrounding for her indulgence.

She didn't have a lot of time to just sit and think with this crew, though, since there was always some kind of trouble that followed them, and perhaps that was the reason that she chose to seek them out in the first place – Luffy's rowdiness and easy-going spirit seemed like the perfect distraction when she first heard of him from Red-Haired Shanks. After all, she didn't appreciate being left alone to simply contemplate anymore, as it had proven to be rather troublesome time and time again, having lost days just staring into the horizon.

Still, no recovery ever goes as smoothly as planned, and Mai had once again found herself doing exactly what she'd hoped would be nothing more than an unlearned bad habit by now. Lucky for her, a chance appearance of a few strands of green hair just at the edge of her periphery cut her off right before she immersed herself into any deeper thought.

"Why are you sitting up here, all alone?" Zoro asked, swiftly jumping the railing.

"Sorting out some feelings, I suppose." Mai answered, almost physically shaking off the immediate thought that her honesty might have been misplaced.

"Oh, I see." He simply nodded at the response. "Should I go?"

"No, no, it's fine, you can stay if you want; it's probably best to not get into that whole mess now anyway."

Zoro thought a bit about her answer, letting her words ring through his head for a few seconds.

"Do you need any help with it?" he asked finally, a slight nervousness visibly seeping through his lightly flushed cheeks. He never really was one to talk about emotions, since he felt that they served zero purpose. That's how he tried to wire his own brain to work, anyway – any emotion that didn't aid him in battle, didn't aid him in life. Still, the girl seemed upset and for that reason he'd decided to try and be considerate.

Mai smiled, a barely noticeable sadness twitching in the corners of her mouth.

"It's not something you can help with, but thanks for the offer."

"Sure, I guess – you're a crewmate, after all."

"Yeah, for – how long has it been – two days? You barely know anything about me."

"Luffy chose to accept you, though, and I don't doubt my captain."

"You sure are loyal for a former bounty hunter."

"Yeah, well, I owe him my life – and to you too, I suppose."

"You would've managed either way there, believe me."

"I doubt it."

"Where are you, you idiots?!" Nami then called, her high-pitched voice lodging itself into their eardrums as an interruption to whatever remained of the awkward conversation. "I think I discovered something!"

"No need to be so loud, jeez…" Zoro remarked, lazily dragging himself up from the floor of the crow's nest.

Before long, Mai and Zoro had joined the rest of their crew and they were now all sitting in the dining room, waiting for their navigator to further explain the cause for her alarm.

"What's up?"

Nami huffed with a strain, spreading the map out on the table in front of everyone and slamming her palm down on it in frustration. "No matter how you look at it, the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!"

"What?!"

"That can't be possible…"

"It's true, though." Mai said, casting a shadow as she leaned over the map to further inspect it. "You see, um, there's a canal right here that goes straight through the mountain, so if we can sail down it, we'll be fine."

"Oh, okay, great." Nami nodded, quickly marking the map where Mai pointed. "I thought that was the case, but now that you've confirmed it, I don't have to worry as much."

"Come on, Nami, as if _you_ could misread a map – don't doubt yourself like that." Mai added through a grin, "Though, make sure we don't pass into the Calm Belt – it takes _forever _to sail out of it, trust me."

"Oh god, you're right. It would be the end if we were to enter the Calm Belt. Sanji, Usopp, go steer the ship towards the mountain!"

"Aye-aye, Nami-swaaan~"

The two boys went to readjust their course and the ship was now steadily gliding through the canal.

* * *

"Mai?" Luffy called, a curious tilt directing his head to the left.

"Yes, captain?"

"When was the first time you entered the Grand Line?"

"Oh… well, I'm actually from an island in the Grand Line, so... never, really. I've only ever gone out further than Loguetown once and that was to find you, Luffy."

"Ooh! That's so cool!"

"Guys, there's something up ahead!" Nami exclaimed, directing everyone's attention to the massive object straight up-front.

"Is it a mountain?!"

"It's huge!"

"Um, I think it's a whale…"

"How do we pass it?!"

"I'll bet the only way is through, given our streak of good fortune." Mai said, tightening her grip around one of the main sail's ropes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" she replied, pausing with a hitch in her breath just as the gigantic creature was opening its mouth at the front of the ship. "We're gonna have to get eaten alive."

**"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"_**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Town of Welcoming

**(Only the OCs are mine)****  
**

**Hey! Here's a bit of a longer chapter for you (compared to the last two); hope I didn't drag it out too much.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The crew was now sitting in almost a circle and attentively listening to the old flower-man, who was in the middle of telling them the story of Laboon the Whale – the same whale that had swallowed them, ship and all, only a short while ago. The young pirates were almost swarming the man with questions, each to some degree concerning the dishonest crew that had abandoned Laboon so many decades ago, as was recently explained to them. As a by-now-common exception to the Strawhats' norm, however, Mai only idly sat by and merely followed the conversation with no more than the occasional frown – she'd met Laboon and the old flower man a while ago, after all, upon her first journey out of the Grand Line, and the fact that the story she heard then still hadn't changed made her heart ache.

It didn't take long, however, for the attention to be shifted onto their eccentric captain; and lucky for them too, since their gloom had grown so pronounced it was almost beginning to hang overhead as if a rain-cloud. Seeing that he couldn't pay any more than a few minutes of attention to his crew (since they were being way too freaking dull, if their captain's opinion had any importance in the matter), Luffy instead decided a much better use of his time would be to spend some with the giant screaming sea-creature. Although such an outcome should've been expected by anyone who'd known Luffy for longer than a half-hour, everyone still managed to somehow be surprised when turning to find their captain stabbing their ship's mast into a now-raging Laboon's wounded head.

"LUFFY!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!"

"WHAT IS HIS FUCKING PROBLEM?!"

"WHY DID YOU DESTROY THE MAST, SHITHEAD?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING _DOING_?!"

But before the captain could take the time to carefully respond to his audience's inquiries, he was flung head-first into a stone mound by the raging whale he'd picked an unprovoked fight with barely a minute ago.

"All right! It's a **tie**!"

"What- "

"I'm pretty tough, huh?"

"Luffy, you probably hit your head too hard…"

"Our duel is yet to be finished, so we must fight each other again! Your old friends may be dead, but I'm your new rival now. And once me and my crew sail the Grand Line, we'll be sure to come back for you so that we can finish this!"

If it weren't for the fact that whales don't have tear ducts, Mai would've sworn that she could see a tear well in Laboon's eye.

* * *

While Luffy was busy painting an almost-lifelike recreation of their jolly roger onto a noticeably cheerier Laboon's head, the rest of the Strawhats were now conversing with the old man about the means of navigation through Grand Line. It didn't take long for Nami to conclude that it would be absolutely necessary to obtain the weird compass known as a log pose, and only a few seconds later, Luffy ended up surprising everyone once again by pulling out exactly the small glass sphere with a needle suspended inside of it which the man had just then described to their navigator.

"Where did you get this, Luffy?" Mai inquired, leaning closer to inspect the details of the object in her captain's hand.

"One of those two goons dropped it." He said, referring to the strange man and woman that were looking to hunt down Laboon for his meat (the ones they'd thrown overboard not that long ago for that very reason).

Mai nodded and carefully handed the log pose over to Nami. But, before the navigator could secure it around her wrist, a misplaced swing of either Sanji's or Luffy's leg (swung in the first place due to Luffy's apparently bottomless stomach) knocked the log pose out of her hand, causing it to smash into the ground to pieces. This not only resulted in their only means of navigation now being decimated to mere smithereens, but also led to the crew's cook and (devil-fruit using) captain being immediately thrown into the sea by the pissed-off navigator in her fit of both rage and panic.

"Don't worry," the flower-man said, smiling as Nami fumed, "I'll give you my log pose as a sign of thanks for what you did for Laboon."

"No need, sir." Mai stated. "I already have one."

The man paused for a moment. "Alright then, but I still want to express my gratitude in some way. Would you be interested in some tobacco?"

"Yes, please!" Mai and Sanji exclaimed, the latter just as he climbed ashore after he'd succeeded in saving Luffy from drowning.

"Mai, you smoke?" Usopp asked, raising his eyebrows as he tried to recall whether he'd seen the girl with a cigarette before.

"Sometimes."

"You shouldn't do that, it's bad for your health." Nami replied.

"It's not like I'm making it past my thirties either way."

"Alright then." The old man said decidedly. "I'll also add a few barrels of whiskey, since I barely drink anymore. Age lessens the enjoyment of indulging in such reckless habits, you see, but I'm sure you'll find a good use for it."

The group of youngsters grinned, and Zoro and Sanji soon followed the old man into the lighthouse's storage room to get the booze and tobacco.

* * *

"Hm?"

"I have a request for you."

Soon after Sanji and Zoro finished carrying the barrels up to the Merry, the man and woman whose log pose Luffy had found were now back on solid ground and were begging the captain to help them reach their home island of Whiskey Peak.

"So, you want us to take us there because you lost your ship?" Nami inquired, an all-too-menacing grin plastered across her face.

"Y-Yes, precisely."

"Don't you think you're asking for a bit much, Mr. Nine?"

"Especially since you tried to kill the whale and all." Mai added.

"Just who are you people, anyways?" Usopp asked.

"I'm a king!" Mr. Nine proclaimed.

"Liar."

"Okay, fine!"

"We cannot say who we are!" Miss Wednesday quickly joined, "But, please! Take us back and we swear to return the favor!"

"You don't sound that convincing…"

"We don't want to keep things from you either, but 'mystery' is our organization's motto! And so, we can't say anything more, but please! Please help us, from the kindness of your hearts!"

"Don't listen to them." The old flower-man said. "They're nothing but trouble."

"Yeah, we figured." Usopp replied.

"We accidentally broke our log pose, but do you still want a ride anyway?" Nami said, turning back to the two.

"What?! Y-You broke it?!"

"And that was _our _log pose!"

"Oh, right! I forgot to mention that we have another one."

"We beseech your kindness, Madam."

"Okay," Luffy said simply, "they can come if they want."

"Luffy, are you sure?"

"You know, kid, the only place you can choose your route is now, and picking Whiskey Peak just because of those ruffians…"

"Don't worry! If we don't like the route, we'll just sail once around and pick a new one!"

"I see."

"Alright then!" Nami exclaimed. "The log-pose should've recorded the magnetic fields by now."

"Is it pointing properly towards Whiskey Peak?" the old man asked.

"Yup!"

"Very well."

"Bye then, flower gramps!"

"Thanks for all the stuff!"

"See you, kids."

"And whale!" Luffy yelled. "We're going now!"

"BUUUUOOOOOOHHHH!"

* * *

After saying their goodbyes to Laboon and the lighthouse keeper, the Strawhats were now on their way towards their first island of the Grand Line. Not long after their departure, they'd found themselves amidst some rough weather, but thanks to Nami's navigational skills and a quick warning from Mai concerning the rapid change of winds and currents characteristic of that region, the ship was once again back on their track.

"Whiskey Peak…" Mai contemplated, scratching her chin. "You know, that name strikes me as quite familiar…"

"Yeah, now that you mention it…" Zoro joined, eyeing the strangers with distrust. "What did you two say your names were, again?"

"M-Mister Nine…"

"And I'm Miss Wednesday…" they introduced themselves with a slight hesitance.

"It's like," Zoro turned to Mai, "an itch in the back of my head. I know it rings a bell, but I have no idea why."

"Yeah, same here." She nodded, all the while not averting her suspecting look away from the two, who had now grown visibly nervous to the point of sweating. "Wait, wasn't your island the home of some kind of underground organization?"

"Oh, you're right!" Zoro followed. "You're both members of Baroque Works, aren't you?"

"Oh, no, no!" Mister Nine said, shaking his head while Miss Wednesday gulped loudly. "You must be thinking of our neighboring island, uh, Cognac Crest!"

"Yeah, now those guys are bad news!" Miss Wednesday said, backing up her partner.

Mai turned to Zoro with an eyebrow raised in doubt, but they didn't get the chance to further examine due to the commotion was now rapidly spreading on-deck.

"The first leg of our journey is over."

"I see giant cacti!"

The ship was nearing land.

* * *

Upon their arrival at the island of Whiskey Peak, the Strawhats were greeted with cheer and celebration, which caught them rather off guard, to say the least, since they had just been discussing the possible dangers that could be waiting for them once they reached land. To their surprise, however, islanders immediately flocked to the docks to welcome them, and they were even greeted at the port by the Mayor himself – Mr. Igarappoi.

Whiskey Peak was then introduced to them as the Town of Welcoming, and soon enough they were taken to an inn, where they were to eat, drink and party to their hearts' content alongside their welcoming crowd. And eat, drink and party they did; Usopp and Sanji were enjoying the admiration they were receiving from a few groups of beautiful women, Nami and Zoro had already succeeded in out-drinking over ten people each, Luffy was working on depleting the entire island's food stores, and Mai was enjoying a nice chat with a pleasant young lady at the bar.

Not long had passed, though, before the majority of the Strawhat crew was passed out and asleep. So, in an effort to keep the rest alert and out of trouble, Mai realized (much to her disliking) that she'd have to get up and mingle.

"Sorry to be leaving your wonderful company so soon, sweetheart," she said to the girl across from her, "but I've noticed some of my crewmates are getting a bit cocky with their drinking abilities, so I have to go and put them back in their place."

After she briefly explained, Mai excused herself and got up to walk away, but not before earning herself a den-den mushi number hastily written on a napkin in the cute bartender's swirly handwriting.

"Oi, grass-head!" she yelled, pointing her index finger almost accusingly towards the swordsman. She didn't seem very sober herself. "I challenge you to a drink-off!"

"That ain't fair – I already defeated ten other guys! But, if you insist, I have no reason to say no." Zoro replied, grinning and immediately grabbing the nearest full tankard.

The drinking match had gone on for about a half-hour, with each of them having downed almost their entire bodyweight in ale, when Zoro collapsed with his face on the table in exhaustion. Mai laughed victoriously, but as she leaned back proudly into her chair, fell asleep immediately.

The Strawhats, now having partied to a point where they could no more, were fast asleep and sprawled across the inn, some in chairs, some on tables, and with their overfed captain (now almost spherical from all the meat he'd eaten) on the floor.

The undercover bounty hunters that had lured them there were rejoicing, having successfully executed their plan, but if only they had bothered to recount, they would've noticed that the pirates they'd trapped in the bar were missing two among their ranks. This would prove to be rather troublesome for the organization known as Baroque Works soon enough, as the two that weren't out cold were possibly the least merciful of the group, and having them run amok in the darkness of night was an eventual calamity that they should have probably worked harder and smarter in order to prevent.

* * *

"Go and confiscate the treasures on their ship and tie them up." The mayor, now referred to by the Baroque Works agents as Mr. Eight, said to the rest. "If we kill them, we'll lose 30 percent of the bounty money – the Government prefers to do public executions, after all."

"Sorry but, would you mind letting those guys sleep a bit longer? They're all tired from the journey here, after all."

"M-Mr. Eight! Miss Monday!" Mr. Nine exclaimed. "One of the pirates has escaped!"

"Why, you…! Weren't you knocked out cold from all that drinking just a moment ago?!"

"A true swordsman never allows alcohol to take control over him." the green-haired swordsman, perched atop the building almost mockingly, was quick to explain to the people that stood below him. He'd faked passing out in order to be able to sneak out once the coast was clear, all with the intention of further exploring his hunches about this odd town of Whiskey Peak. "So, that's how it was then! This place is a den of bounty hunters, and you take advantage of overconfident newbies that've just entered Grand Line…!"

"Someone, get him!"

"Looks like there's about a hundred of you… you'll be a fine opponent for me, Baroque Works."

"He knows our organization's name!"

"How?!"

"Back when I was in the same line of business as you, a certain organization asked me to join their ranks – I refused, of course." Zoro said, standing up from his spot at the edge of the rooftop. "It was an organization whose members don't know a thing about each other's identities, and must refer to each other by code-names. And of course, the boss' location and identity are a mystery, too – an organization looking for absolute obedience from its members… Baroque Works. Heh… was that supposed to be a secret?"

"Crap!"

"If he knows our secret, we have no choice but to eliminate him."

"Another tombstone will be added to Cactus Rock tonight!"

"_**Kill him!**_"

* * *

After causing a few distractions and successfully luring his opponents into different locations as to scatter them across town, Zoro had gotten so drawn into the battle that he hadn't even noticed the approaching accomplice, swinging at her the very moment she got within reach of the edge of one of his swords. Just as he directed a second attack in the same direction however, he was met by a blade clashing with his just as ferociously, wild strands of light blue hair scattering across the face of its wielder.

"Watch it, asshole!" Mai yelled at him in annoyance. "You scratched me on the cheek! Weren't you passed out, anyway?"

"As if I'd lose to you in a drinking contest."

"**Hey!**"

"No, I was faking so that I could sneak out later." He explained, short pauses between words only to direct another swing at the seemingly unending onslaught of opponents.

"Makes sense. Turns out we were right about Baroque Works, huh?" Mai replied with a slight bitterness in her tone, having just cut down two odd-looking women with the heavy swords she had picked up from Arlong's crew a few days ago.

"Obviously." Zoro replied, taking a jab at a man dressed as a cowboy.

The pair had, after a while, finally made their way through Baroque Works's lower ranks and were now steadily advancing towards their more prominent members. As they continued plowing through the mass of bounty-hunters, however, one particularly tall and muscular woman, referred to by her accomplices as Miss Monday, had managed to grab a hold of Zoro amidst all the ruckus, and struck him down into the concrete with a single brass-knuckled punch straight to the head.

"Zoro!" Mai gasped in concern at what she'd just seen enfold in front of her. She hurriedly tried to fight her way through to him, fearing that he might have suffered a concussion from such a heavy blow. To her and the remaining Baroque Works members' surprise, however, the scene that the dust uncovered once it settled showed Miss Monday, frothing from the mouth, hanging by the neck defeated in the one-handed clutch of a still-standing, although admittedly not unscathed, Zoro.

"Shall we continue, Baroque Works?" he asked, grinning smugly as the drops of blood that came trickling down from the cut on his forehead slid into the corners of his mouth. "A fight's no mere game, you know."

"The Marines must have made a mistake…" Ms. Wednesday muttered. "There's no way this man isn't the one worth 30 million belli."

"Of course! He must be the real captain of the crew."

"It makes sense, since it would be quite strange if that grinning idiot was worth 30 million."

"Hey!" Mai interrupted. "No one talks about Luffy that way."

"Sorry to ruin your pleasant chat, but I've heard enough out of all of you."

"We didn't bother to cut down all of your co-members just to let you go scot-free."

Zoro smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "Prepare to die."

* * *

While her swordsman crewmate was busy dealing with Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday – the duo that Luffy had agreed to bring along here on their ship earlier that day, Mai was trying to handle her own fight with Igarappoi, the mayor. The fact that he was using a long-ranged weapon proved to be the most troublesome part about the whole battle, given that her choice to wield swords grounded her to mostly melee-style combat. Mr. Eight had been shooting large round bullets from his saxophone at her, and though she was mostly able to dodge them, a few did manage to break through her defense.

"Fuck…" Mai cursed under her breath, clutching her bleeding biceps after having shortly escaped to hide behind a nearby building's wall. The task at hand would have been quite easier if only she had something to throw, even if just to cause a short diversion, but the only objects she had at hand were the two swords that racked up a couple hundred kilos combined _('Definitely not a throwing weapon,'_ she thought). Knowing she only had a few moments left before she had to go out into open fire again, Mai quickly began browsing her surroundings for a small object heavy enough to do at least some damage. Just in the corner of her vision, she managed to notice a brick from the recently demolished wall lying next to her right foot. Sheathing the swords, Mai picked up the brick, cracking it in half with her bare hands and leaped out of her hiding position, finding herself straight in front of her foe before she lunged the two pieces straight towards his head.

Due to the sheer absurdity of the sneak-attack, one of the brick-halves did end up successfully hitting Mr. Eight straight in the middle of his forehead. The other one, however, he managed to avoid simply with a tilt to his right. The tactic proved to be pretty much useless, as it made her opponent only a tad angrier and thus, a bit more of a threat. Bullets soon started firing out from the insides of his curls as well, catching Mai almost off guard as she was now avoiding the attack only through either extreme luck or some sort of ability to predict the bullets' movements.

Mai knew that her only hope now was to get as close to Mr. Eight as possible and deal a heavy strike – and the sooner that happened, the better. She got briefly distracted, however, by the clanking of a metal chain and the sound of Zoro struggling – Mr. Nine had succeeded in trapping Zoro's arm while Ms. Wednesday was charging towards him on her giant duck with full speed.

"You're open!"

Mai grunted as she dropped to one knee, a sharp pain shooting through the entirety of her lower back. Her vision blurred for a short moment, but snapped back quickly with the sense of something wrapping around her throat from behind, lifting her off the ground.

"Mai…!" Zoro yelled, struggling all the while to break loose from the chain around his wrist.

With another attempt, Zoro succeeded in temporarily freeing himself by flinging the man who was pinning him down high into the air. Luckily, Mai immediately saw this as a chance to finally end the fight – in the blink of an eye, she pulled one of the metal rods that were dangling off her belt and stuck it into Mr. Eight's side. His grip around her neck loosened, and she used it as an opportunity to turn around and face him, slashing him across the front with one of her swords. Mai grabbed the now-unconscious Mr. Eight by the roots of his hair and directed the hidden guns in his curls towards his due-to-Zoro-now-airborne accomplice, pulling on the mayor's necktie and shooting Mr. Nine down, thus finally ending the battle in the pirates' favor.

* * *

The two Strawhats had been sitting on the slope of the rooftop for a while now, enjoying some of Whiskey Peak's finest whiskey (which they _surprisingly_ had an abundance of) over a conversation about the best methods for keeping your hair tamed (both of them had their own, oddly strong opinions on the matter – Zoro with his buzzcut and Mai with her side-cuts), when they noticed a man and a woman they hadn't seen before approaching their previous battleground.

From what they managed to gather through eavesdropping on the conversation down below, the two were also Baroque Works members, but of a higher rank than the people they'd encountered beforehand. Both having previously agreed that interfering in the organization's dirty work was none of their business, Mai and Zoro instead decided to head back and check on the rest of their crew, who were ever so soundly sleeping the night away in the bar.

"What's Luffy doing asleep over there?"

"No idea – better grab him and get the hell out of here."

Their path was almost immediately interrupted, however, by the man who had been posing as mayor, now revealed to be the head of some kingdom's royal guard known by the name Igaram.

"I know what I'm going to ask is absurd, but please! I have seen how strong you are and I have no other choice – those two are ability users and I have no chance against them!"

"No way, man – you shot me in the back."

Zoro nodded, "…and the arm."

"And the _arm!_"

"**Please! **Please, protect the princess in my stead!"

"Princess?"

"She ran away." Miss Valentine (the mysterious woman that had recently appeared) said, turning to her partner.

"After her!" the man replied.

"Roger, Mr. Five! Kyahahaha~!"

"Yes, Vivi is a princess of the Alabasta Kingdom! Please, if you help her, you'll be greatly rewarded!" Igaram continued, hoping to convince the two.

"If you don't let go of my leg, I'll kill you."

"Now, now, Zoro…" a female voice sounded from somewhere down the alleyway, catching the attention of the two pirates and the bounty hunter that was pleading at their feet. "Greatly rewarded, you say? Just how greatly are we talking?"

"Nami, come on…" Mai almost groaned, rubbing her knuckles against her aching lower back.

"What about… _a billion belli_?"

"**NAMI!**"

"A birri- ahem, ma, maa, maa – **a billion belli**?!"

"Weren't you out cold from drinking?"

"As if! I would never let my guard down, especially in a town that _welcomes _pirates – talk about suspicious…! I could've drunk way more if I wanted to."

"Yeah, right…"

"So, how about it, Mr. Head-of-the-Royal-Guard? For the price of a billion belli, we can guarantee the safety of your precious princess! Now pay up."

"I-I can't guarantee something like that, I'm merely a soldier!"

"Are you saying the life of your princess is worth less than a billion belli?"

"We have no time for negotiations now, Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine are chasing after her!"

"And she might die if we don't help, so _pay up_~."

"I-If you help her reach Alabasta, I'm sure she'd be willing to pay you that sum herself!"

"So, we have to save her first then?"

"Please! There's no time to discuss this now!"

"Fine, fine – Zoro, go save the princess!"

"Why me?!"

"I'll go." Mai said, turning to Zoro as to see whether he would also comply. She had been thinking ever since the request was placed about whether it was a good idea to get mixed up with so many enemies so early on in their travels, especially since they had no idea who they'd end up having to fight against – the strength of those notorious in the Grand Line could never be accurately predicted, in any case. However, she found herself leaning more towards helping this kingdom rather than turning away, given that she had encountered some of the high-ranking agents of Baroque Works before, and they didn't seem to pose much of a threat to her back then. In addition, it would also mean eventually acquiring a pretty decent reward for it if they manage to see the mission through properly, and she knew better than most that money is always a strong asset if you've decided to sail the seas as a pirate. "I'll catch up to the princess and escort her to the shore, since I noticed an unguarded boat when we first dropped anchor."

"And I suppose that means I'll have to fight off the two goons?" Zoro said with almost a growl.

"Apparently so. I'm terribly sorry, but let's go!" Mai replied and almost immediately dashed off in the direction of the princess, who was now racing to escape from the island on the back of her giant duck.

It caused Mai barely any trouble to catch up to them though, as the training she'd gone through in her youth (as if she wasn't currently in her youth, anyway) had made her extremely well-prepared just for situations such as these.

'_I guess I owe old Yellow-Eyes more thanks than I've delivered…' _she thought, having gained on Vivi and the bird only after mere seconds and not much exertion.

"Princess Vivi! My name's Mai and I'm here to rescue you!"

"Weren't you the one that beat up all my colleagues, along with that swordsman?!"

"Well yes, but it's all good now – Igaram asked us to help you reach your kingdom and we agreed, so I'll be helping you get to your boat unharmed."

"Oh! Well, I'd thank you, but Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine are gaining on us, and I don't see your green-haired friend slowing them down!"

Just as Mai was about to stop and block the two from passing, she turned her head to see Ms. Monday standing behind her with hands spread wide open.

'_A decoy…_'

Knowing that the woman would soon get struck down, Mai decided to use the diversion to their advantage and sneak unnoticed into one of the town's darker alleyways.

"Now, princess, tell your bird friend to be quiet."

Vivi nodded, grabbing the duck by the tip of its bill and gesturing a _shh_, and they were soon silently following Mai, who was now trying to navigate around the buildings without minimally risking their exposure. To their good fortune, Luffy had woken up from his slumber and was now fuming, threatening Zoro that he was going to kill him for beating up the townspeople after such a warm welcome.

"What?! What kind of idiotic things are you spouting again, Luffy?!" Zoro tried to reason.

However, the captain couldn't be convinced to stop and so kept throwing kicks and punches in the swordsman's way, leaving Zoro no other choice other than to take Luffy's threats seriously. The two Baroque Works agents – Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine, tried to take the two now-quarreling pirates down multiple times while they were too busy fighting each other. Unfortunately for them, it only resulted in the two of them eventually getting caught in the crossfire, which ended up bringing about their unlikely, perhaps-too-early demise.

"No way…!" The princess only managed to gasp. "How can there be someone so strong, and yet so close to the Grand Line's entrance?!"

Only adding to everyone's surprise, a skillfully quick punch to the backs of both of the boys' heads ended up finishing their quarrel instantaneously, making an unlikely victor of none other than the Strawhats' navigator.

"STOP FIGHTING, YOU IDIOTS!"

* * *

After they had brought Luffy up to speed with the entire deal concerning Baroque Works and their presence on the all-too-welcoming island of Whiskey Peak, Nami and Vivi were now caught up discussing the pricing of this tedious mission. To the navigator's almost immediate disappointment, however, the princess couldn't agree to the price that had been demanded.

"Sadly, I can't promise you anything of the sorts – due to radical revolutionaries, my country is currently in a state of absolute chaos."

"So, you joined a group of bounty hunters in order to make money for your kingdom…? Or is your role as Ms. Wednesday some kind of a facade?" Mai asked.

"Indeed. You see, I had heard that it was in fact Baroque Works that was instigating the revolutionaries, and that their goal of achieving an ideal nation was actually a cover for their leader's real plan to take over Alabasta."

"So, you infiltrated their ranks in order to learn the leader's true identity… Did you succeed?"

"Y-Yes, I did, but don't ask me any more questions! I can't possibly reveal to you the identity of Mr. Zero!"

"How come?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyebrows.

"No matter how strong your crew may be, you're no match for Crocodile, a member of the Shichibukai!"

"D-Did you just…"

A mute silence quickly took over the group, as they all turned to realize that their entire conversation had been overheard by the Unluckies. Before they could do anything to stop them, the bird and the otter flew away, leaving the Strawhats (and Princess Vivi) to merely stay frozen in their tracks.

"That can't be good."

"WHO WERE THOSE TWO JUST NOW?!" Nami screamed, holding the princess by her collar and shaking her in a fit of rage. "ARE THEY GOING TO REPORT TO YOUR BOSS THAT YOU TOLD US HIS SECRET?! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US NOW?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"A Shichibukai, she said!" Luffy, on the other hand, seemed almost ecstatic.

"Not bad."

"Don't get too excited, you guys…"

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT RIGHT HERE?!"

"It just slipped out on accident!"

"Oh, and the fact that it was an accident _MAKES IT BETTER?!_"

"I'm sorryyyy!"

"We just entered the Grand Line, and already we have a Warlord chasing us…!" Nami almost sobbed.

"Yeah, we're so lucky to be meeting him this early on!"

"Love your enthusiasm, Luffy."

"I wonder what kind of guy he is."

"SHUT UP, YOU THREE!"

"Come on, Nami, it's not _that_ big of a deal."

"It's been a real short time traveling with you, but goodbye!" Nami declared and quickly turned on her heel to walk away.

"Where you goin', Nami?" their captain asked.

"They don't know my face yet, so I'm running away."

"Um… Nami?" Mai called, pointing her finger to a spot just a few meters away, where the sea otter stood holding up an incredibly accurate drawing of the Strawhats' navigator.

"Oh, wow! You're really talented!" Nami smiled to the otter, which in turn simply nodded and flew away on the back of its accomplice. "NOW I CAN'T EVEN RUN AWAY!"

"Sorry…"

"Where were you planning on going, anyway?"

"You can have the 500 thousand I've got in my savings account, though!" Vivi said in an effort to comfort Nami, who was now sobbing in a corner.

"In any case, with this, the four of us are definitely on Baroque Works' hitlist."

"Sheesh…"

"How cooooool~!"

"**It's not cool, idiot!**"

"Fear not!"

"Huh?"

"It'll be arr- ma, maa, maa – it'll be alright!" Igaram proclaimed grandiosely as he approached them. "I will distract the pursuers!"

Not long after, a plan was devised, mostly inspired by Igaram – he was to pose as Vivi, taking four dummies to pose as the pirates, and sail to Alabasta following the directions shown by the eternal log pose set to the kingdom's magnetic field. The crew, however, was going to take the normal route instead, recording a few of the islands along the way with the ordinary log pose, and meet up with Igaram once they reach the destination.

"Aw, he left… He was such a funny guy, too…"

"He's always been so dependable…"

"Now then, let's- "

Before Nami could finish the rest of her sentence, the flash of light and the booming echo of an explosion coming from somewhere on the surface of the nearby sea froze everyone standing on the coast in their places.

"No way…"

"Igaram…!"


	4. Chapter 4 - Stumbled Upon

**Sorry for the century-long hiatus 3 Enjoy!**

* * *

The Strawhats were still feeling uneasy after the run-in with Miss All-Sunday. They didn't know what to make of her, since she confessed to being responsible for Igaram's demise, but also offered them help in reaching Alabasta safely via eternal log pose (another one that Luffy quickly smashed to smithereens, as if it had already become some sort of tradition or habit).

'_Fuck…'_

Mai sat in the shade of one of Nami's orange trees, hoping to get at least _some_ uninterrupted rest before the next threat eventually came about to bite them in the ass, but an annoying numbness in her arm kept her from doing anything more than rubbing the (obviously) still sore bullet wound.

"You've been awfully quiet since we set sail." Zoro said, squatting next to her and tossing her some clean bandages, which she accepted with a grateful nod.

"I'm fine." Mai replied by some force of habit as she began wrapping the cloth tightly around her bicep, "It's just, well, um… I know that woman from before – I've met her recently."

"Who is she, then?" Zoro asked, simultaneously directing everyone's attention to their dialogue.

"I don't really know – we both used aliases."

"How did you meet her?"

"Well, we had a similar hobby."

"What hobby?"

"Um… dating women."

"What?!"

"Just a few weeks! It was nothing serious, but I thought she might recognize me just now, so that's why I stayed here where she couldn't see me."

"So, you're into girls?" Zoro asked.

"Well, not exclusively, but yeah – why?"

"I always knew you had an aura about you." Nami concluded, nodding to her own assessment.

"Most pirate women do, Nami." Mai said, winking at the navigator.

"Oh, you wish." Nami rolled her eyes, "Forget all that, we have a revolution to stop, people! Now go and make sure we're following a steady course!"

Most of them shrugged the conversation off as soon as Nami began dishing out commands (much to Mai's relief), except for Zoro, who could barely hide a sigh and an embarrassingly bright-red blush, and Sanji, who was now bouncing with joy as he'd "never met a woman that shared his biggest interest before!".

"You seem as if a weight was just lifted off your chest." Mai poked fun at the swordsman. "Do you have anything against gay girls?"

Zoro snarled at her, mumbling a few swear words and quickly climbed up into the comforting solitude of the crow's nest.

* * *

"Hey, Nami, listen." Mai called, entering the dining room where the navigator was doing most of her work. "Even though All-Sunday said we'd have to pass through Little Garden, I can tell you that there's a small island just slightly off to the side of it that's far less dangerous. I've stopped there before so I know my way around it, and we'll only need an hour for the log pose to adjust to the magnetic field."

"Oh god – you're a lifesaver, Mai. I really hoped we'd find a way to avoid that island the woman was talking about. The way she talked about it freaked me out."

"Yeah, Little Garden isn't really a nice place. I'll go check with the captain to see if he's okay with making a detour."

"Alright – and make up a convincing case so that he'll say yes!"

The two girls shared a short laugh, after which Mai exited the dining room with a "Will do, ma'am." and went to look for Luffy. He was quickly found sitting on Merry's head, excitedly watching the horizon like a child would watch a chocolate fountain.

"Oi, captain!" Mai called, earning from him a slightly-anatomically-incorrect tilt of the head (sometimes people forgot what 'being a rubber man' actually meant). "I have a proposal for you; what do you say to making a detour slightly off-course? We'll avoid the marshes of Little Garden and we'll get to explore a cute little autumnal island."

Luffy thought for a moment, coiling his arm ('…_for no good reason_…') to scratch his chin. "I'm not sure. We already said we'd go through Little Garden."

"Yes," Mai nodded, her eye twitching with anticipation for the moment Luffy's arm unfurls and he smacks himself in the face, "but Nami insisted we take the alternative route. I've been there before, you see, and I know for a fact that you need to get close enough to it in order for the log pose to register it, since it's quite smaller than Little Garden. However, we'll only need to stay for an hour, so we'll be able to continue the journey to Alabasta a lot sooner."

"Well, alright! Nami is my navigator, after all, and I'll trust her judgement!"

"Great then, I'll tell Nami to prepare for a change in course."

Mai turned around to walk back to the dining room, when she heard a whir followed by a smack and loud "Owww!".

Now she walked back laughing.

* * *

After some trouble with the current, as well as a pair of sea-monsters, the crew successfully dropped their anchor on the shores of the unnamed island. The island in question was very calm and seemed uninhabited for centuries, if ever. Trees were colored deep brown and bronze, the sky overhead weighed heavy and gray and the frost in the breeze sent shivers across the skin, though none cared enough to admit it.

"It's always been like this." Mai told them. "It's one of those islands where the seasons never change, and this one was fortunate enough to get stuck at autumn."

"What is there to do here, though?" Luffy asked, already bored.

"Well, there's a legend about the island's inhabitants. You could go look for them."

"What inhabitants?" Usopp said, raising a brow, "This place looks as if no one's stepped on it for ages."

"According to the tale, they're supposed to be dwarves, and it's said that they live in the trunks of trees and prey on unsuspecting passers-by, stealing everything they have on them the second they turn a blind eye. Legend says, you can't see them if you go out to look for them."

"So, why tell us to look – " Usopp tried to question but was almost immediately cut short by his already overly excited captain.

"It's settled! We have to find the dwarves!"

* * *

After a brief discussion (and just the _tiniest _bit of arguing), the crew decided to split up; Zoro went hunting for prey (or perhaps a barrel of rum – whichever came first), Nami and Vivi decided to stay on the ship and wait for the log pose to set, while the rest found those two options dull and _boooooring_ and so went on to search for the dwarves.

A half-hour had passed, however, and they were still nowhere near locating not even a single clue as to their whereabouts.

"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way…" Sanji thought aloud.

"How is that possible?! We checked every single tree twice!" Luffy exclaimed, pouting as his patience dwindled with each passing moment.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the small island, while Zoro was stalking the grounds for any sign of even slightly edible animals, the quietest rustle in a nearby bush caught his attention. As he was going over there as stealthily as he could to check on it, he tripped on something and fell to the ground.

"How can you find something if you can't look for it?" Usopp asked.

At that moment, they heard the swordsman yell out a rather pissed-off "What the hell?!" from far away. This sparked something in the girl – you could almost hear the gears turning in her head.

"You stumble upon it."

Quickly, the search team ran towards the source of Zoro's outcry, and when arriving at the scene were met by a peculiar sight: the three-sword-style prodigy, former bounty hunter 'Demon of the East Blue' Roronoa Zoro pinned to the ground by a group of tiny men and women. The rescuers were immediately rolling over with laughter.

"Oi, there's more of 'em!" one of the dwarves exclaimed, pointing her finger at the group that had just arrived. "Tie 'em up, quickly!"

This proved to be a rather bothersome task, however, as the four pirates wouldn't submit to the efforts the dwarves made to trap them. The dwarves were quite odd, too; the men had beards and the women – long, braided moustaches, and they were all about the size of an average-sized human's fist. They carried tiny battleaxes and little crossbows and were all oddly muscular for all that they weren't taller than a coffee mug. They bore long hair down to their lower back and were heavily decorated in tattoos. Their appearance was exactly, and at the same time nothing like what one would imagine a dwarf to look like.

"So cool!" the captain shouted, almost leaping with joy. He leaned down to observe them from up close but earned an immediate punch to the nose that made him bounce back up with a pout. "That's rude!"

"Alright guys, we don't want to pester you," Mai said with feigned seriousness, hoping to reason but unable to shift the bemusement off her features, "we just wanted to meet some of you and, well, set our friend free I suppose, seeing that you've trapped him."

"No way." One of them declared. "We need your friend for food, so if you don't move out of our way, we'll have to eat you as well!"

"That's a lie." Sanji said, his face blank.

The tiny people looked around at each other, before one came up-front to confess. "It is a lie, indeed, but we still can't let your friend go! Our queen is growing old, and since we swear loyalty to her, we've all promised to bring to her some of the wonders of the world she had been unable to see in her more youthful years!"

"And we all want to bring her this joy, since she had sacrificed her young age for us, taking care of us and leading our kingdom responsibly."

The rest of the dwarves muttered and nodded in agreement.

"That's very sweet, but what does this have to do with our friend here?"

"We thought it would be marvelous to show her a man with seaweed instead of hair."

Most of the group tried their hardest to not burst into laughter (excluding Sanji, _of course_), while Zoro was cursing profusely under his breath.

'_I took down half a criminal organization and most of a fishman pirate crew… and these fucking runts managed to catch me off guard, for fucks' sake…'_

"You know," Sanji said, not hiding in the least the tears of laughter that had been streaming down his face, "that's a very good point you have there. In fact, why don't we join you?"

"Yeah, that's a _great_ idea, Sanji." Mai continued; the shit-eating grin unmoving from her face as she pat Sanji on the shoulder. "I bet she's never seen a pirate crew like this one before."

"Wait, are you pirates?"

"Yes!" their captain exclaimed, "And I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"Oh, that's excellent! The Queen would love to see you! Please, follow us!"

* * *

The dwarves had quickly led them to the entrance of a small cave, all the while not even thinking of untying Zoro, who was growing more agitated by the second. No other crewmember seemed to protest his entrapment, though – some even seemed thrilled about it.

Luffy poked the swordsman in the shoulder, "They're gonna eat you, Zoro!"

Mai nodded, "Like ham."

"Like _**ham**_!"

"Maybe smoked ham," Sanji added, "with a side of sliced pineapple and roasted potatoes and garnished with a few sprigs of rosemary."

"Wow…" Luffy muttered, mouth watering and eyes now freakishly shaped like ham, "I might eat you too, Zoro."

After crawling through a corridor with a particularly low ceiling for a few minutes, the crew and their tiny companions had finally reached some type of light at the end of the tunnel. To the Strawhats' amazement, this light showed itself to be a magnificent Hall of Kings – the walls and pillars were carved out of marble and the stairways and hallways were so grandiose, even a regular-sized human would get lost walking through it. They were then led across a glass bridge, suspended atop rivers of gold and silver, and made their way to a humongous door that was embellished with detailed carvings that depicted battles of an age obviously long forgotten. Once passing the door, they entered a brightly lit chamber with gold-covered walls, decorated with painstakingly detailed tapestries and lifelike portraits of the royal family, all framed in beautiful dark wood. The floor was covered by a thick velvet rug with edges embroidered in gold thread. All around the room were mesmerizing bouquets of flowers none of them had even seen before, as well as baskets filled with fruits they never would have even imagined they would see in real life due to the scarcity. Still, none of this could fully distract one's eye from the focal point of the chamber – the Throne carved into the cave wall, precious stones of unfathomable quantity and quality encrusting its entire surface.

Upon the royal Throne on a deep-green velvet cushion sat a lone figure, imposing still in its minimal height and with wait-staff so rigorously trained and disciplined, that the pirates initially confused them for statues.

"My friends," the old woman called; voice booming, though calm and collected as she twisted one edge of her well-kept moustache between her index finger and her thumb, "who are these people you've brought to my Kingdom?"

"The first, your Majesty, is this man we found, with grass growing out of his head, as if it were hair."

"Oh, how incredibly amusing!" the woman laughed, "But I believe you should set him free, for he looks rather uncomfortable in those ropes."

"Very well, your Majesty." The men bowed, quickly and almost too easily undoing the binds and granting Zoro back his freedom.

"And as for the rest?"

One of the dwarven warriors that had led the escort quickly stepped forward, bending his knee in almost a trained speed as he bowed his head to the floor – he must've had that job for a while. "My Queen, they are all pirates, and we've brought them here to tell you stories of their voyages!"

"Oh, goodness! Thank you so much! I truly am always entertained by odd stories of adventure – I truly cherish this gift, Yabrun. Will the guests please introduce themselves?"

A few of the other dwarven warriors were quick to not-so-pleasantly poke the Strawhats with the dull ends of their spears, prompting them to all take an awkward step forward.

"Well, we're the Strawhats – "

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy!"

"Yeesh…"

'_Here it comes…'_

"I'm gonna be **the King of the Pirates!**"

"Prepare to run, guys…" Sanji whispered.

"Oh, how exciting!" The Queen said, absolutely thrilled – much to everyone's surprise, "I am thrilled to make your acquaintance. Please tell me some of your stories, future King of Pirates!"

"Yosh!"

* * *

"Our Queen seems to adore your stories, dear Strawhat Pirates." Yabrun – one of the high-ranking dwarven officers said to them after the crew had went out into the hallway to try and somehow contact the Going Merry. "However, I'm afraid that no matter what we do, we can never truly bring her the joy and happiness she deserves."

Luffy turned to him, his attention immediately shifting away from the efforts of calling Nami and Vivi. "What do you mean?"

"…Your Highness." Mai corrected through a fake cough, jabbing Luffy in the shoulder with her elbow – they'd learned not more than a half-hour ago that Yabrun was indeed one of the Queen's three children and the current first-in-line as heir to the Royal Throne.

"It has come to all of our individual discoveries over the past few years; the only thing my mother wants… is to see a winter day."

Luffy thought the Prince's words over for no more than a millisecond. "Okay, then we'll do it!" he concluded, quickly attracting his crewmates' confused looks. "We'll take her with us on a winter island, and then you can send a few ships to pick her up!"

"That would be wonderful, Captain Luffy, but we have no sailors."

"Then we'll find someone to bring her back for you!"

"Actually," Mai nodded along mid-contemplation, "I might know of a winter island not too far from here, and I'm sure we'd be able to arrange for a returning trip, so that might not be a completely insane proposition."

"Well, I'm not sure if this is at all executable, but the Queen's word is final, so you could take the suggestion to her if you truly wish and believe it to be a good idea."

It didn't even take until the end of Yabrun's sentence before Luffy had stormed back into the main hall, now eagerly asking the Queen to join him on his pirate ship.

The small mustached woman leaped with joy at the mere mention of the offer. "You truly have a heart of gold, future Pirate King – it would be my honor to sail with you."

* * *

When the crew finally reached the Going Merry, three hours had already passed since docking.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!"

"WE WERE WORRIED SICK!"

"Not worried enough to look for us, apparently…" Usopp murmured, causing the Queen to chuckle.

"We tried to call you, too…" Mai added.

"Nami, Vivi, we'd like you to meet the Queen of the Dwarves!" Luffy proclaimed. "We'll be taking her on a trip with us, because she has never seen winter before!"

"Oh, okay then. I am humbled to meet you, your Majesty, and can only hope that we can accommodate you to the best of our ability." Nami said, a strategically placed smile shaping her features as she turned to the cook, "Sanji, could you please show her Royal Majesty to our spare bed?"

As soon as Sanji went to escort the Queen to her new room, Nami took the chance to express her concern – by smacking the captain on the head with a rolled-up newspaper. "Luffy, are you insane? We're pirates! She's an old lady! And, what do you mean, Queen of the Dwarves?! We can't take a QUEEN on board with us!"

"What if she gets hurt?!" Vivi added, quick to back Nami up.

"We already have a princess, for crying out loud! Are you planning on making some kind of Patchwork Kingdom? What if something bad happens?!"

"We won't let anything bad happen." Luffy answered, his tone almost comically serious.

The navigator stared at him blankly. "Wow, I have no idea how that didn't occur to me."

"Don't worry, Nami." Mai said through a chuckle. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"EVERYTHING!" the navigator yelled – her stress levels had been reaching record heights recently and her dumbass crewmates' 'fuck it' behavior was most of the reason why. "And I can't believe the rest of you – I mean, we all know _Luffy _is a moron – but _all of you_?!"

Nami's rant was quickly cut off, however, by the sound of two sets of footsteps tapping on the floorboards.

"This ship is absolutely amazing, dear Strawhats!" the Queen exclaimed, "I can't wait to see her sail. Where will we be turning her towards, if I may ask?"

"Well, now that we've logged your island, we can set sail for the next one the log pose points at." Nami replied kindly – a tone usually lacking when addressing her thickheaded crew.

"That wouldn't be Little Garden, by any chance?"

"Oh, no – absolutely not." Nami shook her head nervously.

"We docked here in order to avoid it, in fact." Vivi added.

"That is very smart, I must say – your navigator must be brilliant, thinking of such a thing." The Queen said. "It would be most unfortunate if you were to end up there…"

Mai held her breath, already anticipating the end of that sentence.

"… the dinosaurs might be what everyone fears initially – "

"WHAT?! **DINOSAURS?!**" Luffy jumped in his spot, already ecstatic beyond measure.

'_Shit…'_

"Well, yes, but I do believe the giants might pose an even more troublesome threat in some scenarios."

'_Fuck… shit… mission failed…'_

"WHAT?! _**GIANTS**_?! Nami, I've changed my mind!" Luffy exclaimed with conviction, and the rest of the crew almost simultaneously sighed in defeat, "Turn this ship around – we're heading to Little Garden!"


	5. Chapter 5 - The Drinks Are on Sanji

**Short as hell, but hey – at least I wrote it, I guess.**

**Happy 2020!**

Another night had fallen since the Strawhats' departure from the Dwarf Kingdom, and this night it had fallen to Mai to be on watch duty.

Luckily, the sea had been empty, quiet and open save for the steady wind current that helped guide the Merry, and so upon agreement from the eager chef and the navigator, Mai could allow herself a bottle (and then another, with further nagging to the chef) of not-great-not-terrible rum and a few slices of orange - a combination that had quickly become her favorite, courtesy of Nami's citrus garden.

She wouldn't be lucky enough, however, to have all the booze to herself, since as soon as the clamor of dinner and bedtime rambling died down, a sneaky patch of pasture-green hair on a (pretty attractive, though begrudgingly admitted as such) head had for some reason somehow made its way up to the crow's nest.

"How come the cook doesn't give _me_ any booze for my night watch?" Zoro asked, taking a seat on the floor.

Mai chuckled, "Maybe you don't show your tits enough, muscle-boy."

"Screw you." Zoro scowled, "My tits are none of this crew's concern."

Mai huffed, eyebrow now raised teasingly, "Oof, I don't know about that, Zoro - we sort of _had to be_ concerned with your tits when the world's greatest swordsman sliced through them like butter."

"Your choice, not mine."

"Ah yes, I forgot that we were just supposed to let you die."

Zoro crossed his arms, "Well, I asked for it when I challenged him."

"I've challenged him about a million times, dumbass. Would you let me die for it?"

"Um, no."

"But I asked for it. If I challenged you to a duel to the death and I lost, what would you do? Kill me?"

"No, but - "

"There's no difference. Mihawk didn't let you die either, and he could have." Mai sighed, "Maybe he should have, since you're a cocky bastard that likes to think it's just him against the world."

Zoro scoffed, narrowing his eyebrows further, though more in confusion at the sudden attitude than in any sort of frustration, "Fine then - I won't die if it gets you this angry."

"Thanks."

Awkward silence then took over, sparsely broken apart only by scattered clinking of glass bottle against wood.

"So, what's the story?" Zoro asked, earning a questioning look, "I mean, how do you know Hawkeyes?"

Mai raised her eyebrows, biting her tongue as she thought over her eventual response.

"He's... my father."

"Oh, wow, like - "

"Not biologically."

"Ah... so, you're an orphan?"

Mai paused, swallowing thickly, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Zoro then tapped on the floorboards with his fingers a few times, realizing too late what a bad fucking way to ask a question that was.

"But, he did raise me since I was really young, so I guess not really an orphan."

"Yeah, that's fair." Zoro nodded, sighing quietly in relief as the tension dissipated, "Did he teach you to fight?"

"Well, he definitely tried." She let out a dry chuckle, "I didn't really enjoy sword-fighting at first though; kind of preferred long-distance, less intense shit."

"Like knife throwing?"

"Like sniping."

"Ah," he nodded knowingly, "Usopp style."

Mai smiled, "Yeah."

"But you're near-sighted."

"Well yeah, but - " Mai paused then, her breath hitching slightly, "How do you know?"

And Zoro's face immediately flushed red.

"I um, notice weaknesses easily."

"Wow, guess I'm pretty easy to read then, huh? Quite a disadvantage to have in combat."

"No," Zoro shook his head slightly as he sipped on the rum, "it wasn't in combat."

Mai tilted her head, "When was it, then?"

Zoro flushed even brighter red, "I uh, saw you squinting when trying to see what the cook was showing you from across the kitchen."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah…"

"Pretty good observational skills, Zoro – "

"Thanks, I – "

" - for a stalker, apparently."

"Oi_!" _Zoro frowned, "It's not my fault you're so obviously blind!"

"But it's your fault for staring at me," Mai muttered, "muscle-boy."

Zoro opened his mouth to say something, but had now found himself being genuinely off-guard by where the conversation seemed to be going.

'_Muscle-boy?'_

And then silence again.

"So, you're obviously no good at sniping now - "

"_Hey!" _Mai groaned, "How are you so sure?"

"Oh, come on," Zoro rolled his eyes, "you missed Igaram with a brick – and the guy's not easy to miss since he's _seven feet tall_."

"Well he was _fast!_"

"_I_ could've nicked him from where I was standing, if you didn't meddle."

"You were getting your ass handed to you by Mr. Nine then, remember?"

"Whatever helps you sleep better."

Mai scoffed, though it sounded oddly similar to laughter,

"Fine - I never became a sniper."

"How come?"

"Well, it took a lot of effort and nagging on Mihawk's part, but eventually I came to enjoy swords more."

* * *

"Mai," Mihawk groaned, "for the love of all that is holy, get down from that tree or I'll cut it down with you."

"No!" the child pouted, crossing her arms as she perched atop a thin branch, "You're gonna make me practice swords again!"

Mihawk scoffed as if baffled by the accusation, "What do you mean? No, I will not, it is simply unsafe up there."

"Liar!" she accused, jumping up and down in her spot, "Liar, liar, liar!"

"No, I am - " Mihawk huffed, trying to rub the tension away from his temple, "Stop jumping, the branch will break - "

"Liar, liar, li - ahh!"

The branch did, indeed, break, but lucky for Mai, she rarely skipped on her agility training so she was able to land on her feet with ease.

"There, just as I said."

"Pfft." Mai stuck her tongue out, "Whatever, it's not like I'm injured."

"Is that what it will take for you to listen to me at least once?"

"No."

"Then what will it take?"

"Nothing."

"I do not intend on negotiating with a six-year old, Mai, so if you would just learn to behave on your own - "

"Screw you! You're not even my real dad!"

Mihawk frowned, "Not even when the humandrills appear while you're playing in the forest?"

"Hmph." she crossed her arms with a pout.

"And for the last time, stop playing in the forest." he scolded, but quickly his voice softened, "Come, now - just take my hand and let's go back to the castle."

"Ugh." Mai scowled, taking her father's stuck-out hand. Quickly enough, she was picked up and placed to sit on his shoulders.

"What are we having for breakfast, dear?"

"Oh!" Mai grinned, having forgotten about the quarrel immediately, "How about pancakes?"

"We had pancakes yesterday."

"So what? Pancakes again every day!"

"Until you get sick of them, like waffles?"

Mai slammed her small fist into her palm decidedly, "Yes."

"Alright then," Mihawk chuckled, "Pancakes it is."

"Yay!"

* * *

"I'd never imagine Hawkeyes as the kind of guy to cook." Zoro said, bringing his bottle closer to him from across the floor.

"Oh, trust me, he wasn't." Mai assured with a few nods, "But you can't feed a kid with just cheese, wine and artisanal bread, so he had to learn some stuff."

"Is he better than the curly-brow?"

"Oh, no, definitely not," she said with certainty, "but if I must admit, he does make the _best_ scrambled eggs _ever _\- I can't really figure out his secret, though."

Zoro shrugged, "Maybe it just tastes homey."

Mai sighed as her back slid further down the mast, "Maybe you're right."

The night sky grew deeper navy still, and it was that stage of drunkenness where Mai could now barely see that the stars were indeed out and glistening above their heads.

"Hey, since when is the moon so blurry?" she asked, eyebrows narrowed as if genuinely disgruntled by the moon's audacity.

"Since you finished your bottle and started drinking from mine," Zoro answered from behind the rim of his glass, gulping down the rest of his drink, "fucking cheap-ass."

"Hey!" she scowled, "First of all, the rum's free, and second – Sanji gave both bottles to _me_!"

"But I came here to help you, since you can't do your job right, so one bottle belongs to me now – as payment."

"Bullshit. Now shut up and _hicc _pour me another glass, will you?"

Zoro scoffed at Mai's all-too-smug expression as he snatched the glass out of her hand, "Fine – but I ain't helping you down when you're gonna need to hurl overboard."

"'S fine, I'll just hurl in your lap."

"No way," he shook his head, "you ain't getting anywhere near my lap."

Mai's lips stretched out into a malicious smirk, "We'll have to see about that, sweetheart."

Zoro's cheeks immediately turned pink as he scowled.

"Screw you."

"Aw, did I embarrass you?" she snickered gleefully, "Do you _want_ to screw me, Zoro?"

Zoro scowled even more, "You wish."

"Ha!" Mai exclaimed, teasingly poking him in the side with her elbow, "Well, not that I'd mind…"

"You - what?"

"Oh, come on, Zoro," she waved her hand, "You work out topless while looking like _that_ – you really think anyone could be impartial?"

"I uh," he scratched near his temple, "guess I never thought about it."

"Well," Mai chuckled, "now you know, muscle-boy."

"Yeah…"

Silence, again.

"Would you bang the cook?"

"Oh," Mai thought for a second, "no, probably not. I mean, he's real pretty and sweet and all, but… he seems like he'd need emotional investment, and I can't really do that in this line of work."

'_Huh.'_

"Would _you _bang Sanji, Zoro?"

"What?!" Zoro jolted as if struck, "No way!"

"Why not?" Mai asked, "He seems like your type."

"No, what the fuck?! I mean," Zoro huffed, "I don't… bang guys, at least not yet – and I'm not planning on starting with that dartboard."

'_Huh.'_

* * *

The wind whistled and the rum emptied further.

"Would you do Nami?" Zoro asked, speech starting to slur as the early hours of morning began to near.

Mai nodded in contemplation a few times, "I mean, she _is _really hot, but like it's really obvious how into Vivi she is, so I wouldn't wanna meddle with that."

"Yeah, fair. 'S Your turn, by the way."

"Oh. Um, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Huh - three truths in a row, lazy-ass?"

Zoro grinned, pouring himself a glass from one of three bottles of rum that he'd stolen from Sanji's pantry a half-hour ago on a dare.

"Fine, fine…" Mai muttered as she handed him her empty glass, "Oh! What's your body count?"

"Um, not sure, I rarely check to see if they're alive afterwards – "

"People you've _slept with, _dumbass, not people you've killed."

"Ah – I'm not saying."

"Alright, either a virgin or a slut," she mumbled to herself, "Then how many people have you kissed?"

Zoro raised his eyebrow, "I don't know, like five or six?"

"_Oh,_" Mai chuckled quietly, "virgin, then."

"Oi!" Zoro growled, "I'm not a virgin."

"I'm just kidding – you obviously can't be a virgin with _that _ass." Mai winked, rather clumsily as she downed another glass, "Aaand I'm objectifying you again, sorry."

Zoro rolled his eyes, "How many people have _you_ kissed, then?"

"Hey, I didn't choose between truth or dare – "

"Oh, come on - just answer."

Mai shuffled a bit to prop her head up better on Zoro's thigh, when a spark of drunken impulse lit her eyes up like a thunderstorm. She turned around, supporting her weight on one arm. The tip of her nose lingered just below the swordsman's chin and, before Zoro had any time to do anything more than blush, she raised her other hand to his jaw and pulled him in for a kiss.

Mai broke off first, causing Zoro to lean slightly towards her as she moved away, his lips staying parted all the while in lingering confusion.

"How many people have I kissed? If it's you who's asking, then just one, _hicc _sweetheart."

She clicked her tongue as she raised her empty glass, and it was then that Zoro realized that she'd downed _another _glass of rum and that he'd just allowed himself to do a very, very bad thing.

He'd zoned out for a few moments only to snap back just as Mai was beginning to unbutton her top.

"Oooookay, slow down," he said with a nervous chuckle, grabbing her hands and lowering them away from her shirt, "what are you doing?"

"Well, we're gonna bang, right?" Mai asked, not bothering to snake her wrists out of Zoro's hold.

"What? No, you're drunk."

"Oh, come _on_ – I'm not that drunk, no need to baby me."

"No way," Zoro stayed adamant, "I don't take advantage."

_'Didn't expect that,'_ she thought for a moment, but still she let out a groan.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," she muttered as she shrugged away, "pussy."

"You're just butthurt because you got rejected." Zoro crossed his arms.

"No, I'm not – you're just being a pussy."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Mai raised slightly in her spot to put out the cigarette that she'd forgotten was left burning in the ashtray.

"Hey and, uh, completely random, but can you help me down?" She asked, scratching the back of her head as she turned back to Zoro with a sheepish, unfocused gaze, "I really need to throw up into the ocean."

Zoro smiled then, despite trying to hide his endearment, "Only if you promise to go lie down in the girls' room afterwards."

"No way!" she scowled, "It's stuffy and I hate it."

"Then lie down here." He said as he gestured to the floor of the crow's nest.

She poked him in the thigh with her finger a few times, "I will, if you let me use your leg as a pillow."

"Fine," he scoffed, "but you have to promise not to hurl in my lap."

Mai smirked, "It's a deal, muscle-boy."

* * *

**If you have any complaints, compliments or just want to say hi - please review!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Warriors

**Chapter 6.**

**A chapter was bound to be written during quarantine – hope you enjoy!**

Morning arrived clear and quiet, white rays shifting through cracks in the railing as the sun began to carefully thaw the frost that had settled on the surface of the floorboards. Soon the breeze began to pick up and birds took their perching spots on the ropes of the mainsail.

"Fucking… pests…" Mai groaned, "why do you have to be so fucking _loud_?!"

"No need to hungoverly scream at seagulls," Zoro said in a dull tone.

"Shut up," Mai said through a yawn and she stretched her arms above her head, "and hungoverly isn't a word – _fuck, _my head hurts."

"Yeah, your brain's still trying to process all the stupid shit you said last night."

"Like what?"

"That you could beat me in a fight."

Mai scoffed, rolling over to her side, "I can take you right now, tiger."

"I can't fight you after watching you throw up for fifteen minutes straight."

"Hey," she muttered, raising her hand lazily, "no one asked you to watch."

Zoro rolled his eyes, "If I didn't, you would've fallen overboard."

"Yeah, yeah, fucking – "

"MOOOOOOOOOOOORNIIIIIIIIIING~"

A loud honking noise came from their captain then, who was already bouncing around deck excitedly.

"Speaking of loud animals…" Mai said with a chuckle, and she squinted and tilted her head to get a better view of Luffy through the rails.

"Oiiii, Zoro, Mai!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs, his grin stupidly ever-present on his face, "BREAKFAAAAAAAAAST!"

* * *

"Morning," Mai muttered to Sanji as she walked in; or rather, Sanji's back – he was still busy with finishing breakfast (or rather, Luffy's "portion").

"And good morning to you, my darling beautiful lady of the sea!" Sanji said cheerfully, turning to take a glance at her and raising his eyebrows in slight concern when noticing her eye-bags, "I'm guessing you would like some lemonade?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, "thanks."

"Was the rum to your liking?"

"Definitely – given that I look like I died six hours ago."

"Oh, nonsense," the cook grinned widely and sincerely, "you're always wonderful."

Mai laughed, and the conversation had faded out, seamlessly having blended into the ruckus caused by the growing crowd around the dining table.

"Luffy, you_ shithead!" _the cook yelled, biting down on his cigarette, "Put the fucking bread down or I'll rip those rubber kneecaps of yours in half!"

"Quite the threat, Sanji." Mai said as she shuffled to the left, making room for Vivi to sit down next to her.

The cook bowed his head graciously, a melodic "I try my best, Mai-chan," running out of his lips as if a habit. Quickly he turned back to the sizzling pan, the slight bounce of his blond curls only accenting his sharp features further; and with all the sunlight peeking through small windows and grazing his cheeks, Sanji was, at that moment, truly a sight for sore eyes.

"He's fuckin' pretty, isn't he?" Mai mumbled, gesturing with her chin towards the cook and leaning slightly forward so that the Queen could hear her from across the table.

Her Majesty nodded with a chuckle, "Your crew is very lucky to have a young man like him on board."

"Tell me about it," Nami said with half a huff, lowering her coffee mug to set it down on its coaster, "The other _young men _of this crew do barely as much work combined as Sanji does on his own."

"They do seem to enjoy their fun," Vivi said through laughter.

Sanji continued preparing breakfast, stealing a glance at the giggling group of girls from time to time and all the while hoping that they couldn't tell he was blushing from looking at the back of his head.

"What do you think, Zoro?" Mai asked, turning to the swordsman and stealing his attention away from the very important sunny-side-up egg in his plate.

"Huh? About what?"

"Is Sanji the crew's first mate?"

"What?" Zoro narrowed his eyebrows, "No."

"Nami?"

"Nope."

"Then who is?" Vivi asked.

The swordsman shrugged, "We don't have a first mate."

"That's bull," Mai said, "every crew has a first mate."

"Yeah – but we really don't, though," Usopp joined, placing a hand on Zoro's shoulder.

"How come?"

"Yeah," Mai said, turning to Luffy, who was giddily anticipating his breakfast the whole time and didn't process a word of the conversation surrounding him, "how come?"

"Huh?" the captain tilted his head in confusion, "how come what?"

"How come we don't have a first mate?"

Luffy pouted, "I don't want a first mate."

"Why not?" Vivi asked, and now everyone in the room was turned toward him with anticipation.

A nervous bead of sweat broke out on Luffy's forehead, "'Cause I don't wanna."

"Is it because you don't want to choose between us?" Nami asked, and Usopp nodded along.

Luffy lowered his gaze, the pout growing more into a sulk as he mumbled out a "Yesh."

"But, if you had to…" Sanji said as he switched off the burners, "who would you choose?"

Luffy's eyes fell on Zoro for a few short seconds, after which he quickly shifted back to Sanji with a scowl, "No one!"

But Sanji caught Luffy's slip-up before he corrected himself, and so did everyone else.

"Hey, come on," Usopp said, his voice soft yet still as bubbly, "stop bothering Luffy."

"Yeah!" the captain exclaimed, "Stop bothering me!"

"Fine, fine," Nami waved her hand, "we won't bully you anymore, you crybaby."

"No need to get so upset over a question," Sanji said, reaching over the table to pass the captain his plate.

Luffy narrowed his eyebrows again, his gaze strangely stern though he was looking at nothing more than the fork in his hand.

"Okay."

Soon enough, Luffy slipped back into his common demeanor, and with that the morning was reverted to its usual routine – besides, everyone was content with finding out their initial guess on the matter was correct, and so there was no reason to prod at the captain with further questions anyway; he'd already made a good decision.

* * *

"Hey, Queen?"

"Yes, dear Luffy?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh, now – you don't just ask a lady that."

"But," the captain frowned, "you're not a lady – you're a queen."

Nami groaned, "No, you idiot – "

"A queen is the ladiest lady of them all," her Majesty explained through a chuckle.

"Ooooooh." Luffy gasped, and for a moment he seemed to be in deep thought, "So then Mai can never be a queen."

"_Hey – !_" Mai went to protest, but three of her crewmates raised their shoulders in agreement, "Yeah, okay, fine…"

"Oi, look – " Zoro called from the crow's nest then, "There's an island over here."

"So, is this it?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't seem very 'little'…" Usopp muttered, stress-sweat already collecting on his eyebrow.

Mai raised her shoulders, "Should've seen it coming after that dolphin, you know."

"Yeah, that's fair."

Vivi eyed their surroundings cautiously, "We need to be careful – if what the Queen says about this island is true – "

"Oh, it is, darling." The Queen said with a chuckle and Usopp's skin immediately raised in goosebumps, "Not many can say they've set foot here and survived."

"Well then, it's simple!" Nami said through nervous laughter, "We just don't set foot."

But the captain's face already beamed with excitement.

'_Fuck.'_

"I smell _adventure_!"

"Luffy, no – "

"That's the smell of _giants _wanting to _kill _us, Luffy!"

But it was too late.

"Sanji, bento!"

The cook raised his twisted eyebrow, "Bento?"

"Yeah," Luffy demanded with glee, "a pirate bento!"

"Alright, give me a second then."

"Luffy," Vivi called, "may I come along?"

"Of course!"

"No way!" Nami exclaimed, "Luffy might be fine, but it's too dangerous out there for you!"

"Well, Caroo will protect me!"

Mai snickered, "Caroo doesn't seem too up for it."

The duck vigorously nodded, looking as if he'd start stress-sweating his feathers off.

A gruesome roar echoed from somewhere within the woods then, and Merry's deck was suddenly shrouded in shadow.

"What – "

Everyone could now only stare (either in awe or in terror) at the giant bird-lizard that passed them overhead, screeching monstrously as it carried in its claws – a tiger.

"WHAT?!"

"Luffy, this place is terrifying!" Usopp wailed, and for all that his effort was clearly genuine, the captain still stood staring straight into the depths of the jungle with idiotic determination.

"Zoro, drop anchor!"

"Aye."

"ARE YOU EVEN _LISTENING?!_"

"You said there're dinosaurs here, your Majesty?" Sanji asked as he handed out the lunchboxes, and upon receiving a short nod from the Dwarf Queen, added, "Well, I've never cooked dinosaur before… and we are low on stocks at the moment… Oi, Zoro!"

The swordsman stopped to turn just as he was about to leap over the railing.

"What?"

"We're running low on food, so hunt down something that looks edible and bring it back."

"Sure thing," the swordsman nodded, "I'll go catch some animals that you'd never be able to kill yourself."

But the second he stepped on land, the cook was there and glaring at him with a twitch in his curlyeyebrow.

"What sort of implications are you tossing around, stupid kelp-head? Are you saying you could hunt a bigger game than me?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Well then – I challenge you to a hunt-off! Whoever brings back the most kilograms of meat, wins."

"Fine by me – though in my case, it'll be tons."

Sanji scoffed and soon, the cook and the swordsman – along with the captain, the princess and the bird – disappeared into the depths of the eerie jungle.

"Why is everyone on this ship insane…?" Nami cried.

"I know how you feel, Nami." Usopp cried as well.

"At least we have each other – "

They both huffed in realization, "Right."

Usopp turned to Nami accusingly, "Why aren't you more dependable?"

"That's _my _line!" the navigator exclaimed in rage, but immediately she switched back to panic, "Who'll protect us and the ship now?!"

Mai cleared her throat and the Queen snickered.

"Did you forget we're here, or…?"

"Don't worry, darlings."

"Mai!" Usopp exclaimed in rejoice and he was instantly entangling her in a rib-crushing hug.

"Oi, oi!" Mai groaned as she struggled to free herself, "Quite a grip you got – could snap someone's arm off."

" – _pleaseprotectmemaipleaseplease – _Wait, really?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Usopp said, puffing his chest out and already forgetting what he'd been panicking about, "it's probably from all the beasts I've fought in – "

"You climbed a lot of trees as a kid?"

" – yeah."

"Well," Nami sighed, "at least you're here to protect us."

"Actually, I'm here for her Majesty – "

"Oh, nonsense, dear Mai." The Queen chuckled, "I can protect myself."

"Well, no offence, your Majesty, but – "

"Just because I'm small doesn't mean I don't pack a punch, darling."

Mai thought of countering, but only bowed her head, "Alright then – guess I can keep an eye on these two since – "

"THANKYOUYOURMAJESTY"

Suddenly, they felt the air around them shift, and slowly they turned to see what was towering behind them.

"It's – It's – It's – "

"A GIANT!"

"HE'S GOING TO _EAT US!_"

"Hey, hey – guests!" the giant roared with laughter, "I don't get guests around here often – you got any ale?"

"Y-y-y-yes, a little."

The giant then bent forwards and roared, and for all that he seemed amusing and with no ill intent to Mai or the Queen, they could practically see Nami's and Usopp's souls leave their bodies.

"A d-d-dinosaur…" was all the navigator could muster, and within a terrifying second the giant swung his axe behind him and beheaded the T-Rex that so rudely had decided to bite into his rear-end.

"Behold!" the giant proclaimed, and Nami and Usopp screamed their lungs out in terror, "The greatest warrior of Elbaf – Broggy! Gabababa!"

"That was so cool!" Mai exclaimed, "A very clean cut – "

"Well, of course – "

" – for an axe-wielder."

"I am – wait – what do you mean by that, huh?"

"Play dead…" Nami whispered to Usopp as they both lay sprawled on the wooden deck.

"What is she _doing – "_

But "Well, you know," Mai continued, pointedly ignoring her crewmates' mumbling, "Swords are just more… precise. Give any big lug an axe and he's likely to do damage, but give the same lug a sword and, well – he'll die, give or take."

The giant laughed, "I might be a big lug with an axe, but this axe is as big as your ship – so maybe pick your battles better."

"He's _right, _you know – "

"Oh, no, I didn't mean you – you're obviously not just _any _big lug, given how cleanly that dinosaur's head came off."

"Ha! A charmer, are you?"

"I do try – and from up close your teeth look bigger than my head, so…"

"Hohoho! Your wit's pretty quick as well!"

"Well at least that has nothing to do with you being a giant."

"Oh?"

"Yeah – I'm just very smart and ridiculously funny."

"Haha! I like you, girl!" Broggy proclaimed, grinning still widely, "Now I've got meat, so let's feast, my guests!"

Mai chuckled, "You should've said 'feast _on _my guests'; these two would've probably passed out."

"Hey!" Nami scowled as she straightened on one elbow.

"_Rude!_" Usopp added, "I mean _true_, but still!"

"Don't worry," the Queen said calmly, "giants are rarely known to eat humans."

Nami and Usopp froze.

"Ha!" Mai laughed, "See?"

* * *

"There!" Broggy said, setting down the huge piece of cooked dinosaur meat in front of his guests, "It's all cooked, so eat up!"

"W-We're not hungry," Nami said, a bead of nervous sweat making its way down the side of her forehead.

"What about you, girl?"

Mai chuckled, "I don't eat meat, but thank you for the offer."

"What?" the giant narrowed his eyebrows, "You don't eat meat?"

"No, not really."

"You really are a strange one, ain't you?"

Mai grinned, "I suppose I am."

"Um, Mr. Broggy?" Nami said shakily, "May I ask you one question?"

"Sure, girlie – what is it?"

"H-How long does it take for a log pose to finish recording this island?"

"One full year," the giant said with a toothy grin, and Nami and Usopp fell backwards in grief, "So you better make yourself comfortable, gababababa!"

"A year?!" Mai exclaimed, "Are you serious?"

"You're gonna have to start eating meat, too – not a lot of edible plants around here, gababa!"

"Surely there is another way," the Queen said, "You seem to have spent a lot of time on this island, dear Broggy – have you not a spare calibrated log pose, perhaps?"

"Sadly, your Majesty, I can't help you – I lost my log pose a long time ago."

"Maybe we can find it," Mai muttered, "Do you remember where you last saw it?"

"Not really," Broggy laughed, "It's been a hundred years since then, gabababa!"

"What?!"

"You've been on this island for an entire _century_?!"

"Why haven't you left for home yet? Don't you have a village to return to?"

"I do," the giant said, and with a faint smile he recalled his memories, "It's called Elbaf – a kingdom of warriors; but I can't go back just yet."

"Why not?"

"We have a rule back home, that if a quarrel breaks out and we can't settle it on our own, then we beseech our god Elbaf for his judgement. He is just and protects those who are righteous. I got into a quarrel myself with another giant and this island has served as our battleground – the one who is right will triumph in the end and survive."

"Woah," Usopp gasped with awe.

"But," Broggy laughed, "It's been a hundred years, and we still haven't settled our duel! Gababababa!"

The middle volcano interrupted with an explosion then, startling Nami and Usopp who jumped in their spots.

"Aha!" Broggy exclaimed, pointing his axe towards the volcano, "So the time for battle has come again!"

And as if from nowhere, another giant appeared – equally as enormous and with a long, straight beard reaching almost to his stomach.

"But what could possibly keep you wanting to fight for a hundred years?!" Nami exclaimed.

The two giants grinned at each other widely as they clashed weapons, the boom of metal against damaged metal as if a greeting.

"It's not about that anymore," the Queen said calmly.

"Huh?"

"It's about pride now," the other giant said.

Broggy nodded in agreement, "And we forgot the reason **ages** **ago**!"

"Damn," Mai said with glee, "imagine being that honorable!"

Usopp stood and watched their duel with unreserved astonishment, "They keep swinging for vital points! Every attack could mean death!"

"Whatever," Nami said with a wave of her hand, "Let's just leave while they're distracted with each other."

"Wow…"

"Usopp?"

"Even without a reason, they fight like this…"

"If none of you are coming, I'll just head back myself."

"I'll stay here a bit longer and watch."

Mai chuckled, "You sure seem like you admire these guys, Usopp."

"Come on!" Usopp said, "Can't you see? This is what a fight between two warriors truly is! They've forgotten the reason so long ago, but they still fight for their pride – they'd even risk their lives for it! Amazing!"

"It is inspiring, truly," her Majesty said with a nod.

"One day, I want to become a proud warrior just like them!" he proclaimed with a determined grin.

"You want to become a giant?" Nami said teasingly as she dropped down on a nearby rock.

"Did you hear anything I said?!" Usopp yelled at her, but quickly his expression returned to that of admiration and he sighed, "If there's a village full of warriors just like them somewhere, I'd sure like to visit it one day!"

And then, the two giants slammed into each other's heads with their shields, and together they both fell to the ground.

"73,466 fights…"

"… and 73,466 draws."

"Incredible…!"

"Gababababa, oi, Dorry!" Broggy laughed, "I've got some rum from my guests!"

"Excellent! I haven't had rum in ages!" Dorry laughed as well, "Pour me some, will ya? Gegyagyagya!"

* * *

There wasn't much time for conversation before the volcano erupted and the giants went to duel once again.

"Let's go find Luffy and Vivi," Nami said, "they're at the other giant's place."

"You're not coming, Mai?" Usopp asked as he sat up from the fallen log.

"I'll catch up later," Mai replied, "I'm gonna keep her Majesty company – she seems to enjoy Broggy's stories."

"Oh, I really do," the Queen chuckled, "You warriors truly do live the most interesting lives."

"I wouldn't necessarily call myself a warrior," Mai laughed, "but you're right, it's pretty fun."

"Nonsense, darling – you all have a warrior's heart."

Usopp laughed as well, and when he turned around and followed Nami into the jungle, his grin was wide and beaming on his face.

"What a charming young man," her Majesty said, "and Nami is so smart. They both must be a treasure to have as crewmates."

"Yeah, they sure are," Mai chuckled, "They all are, in fact."

"And Mai dear," the Queen turned to her, "I see such kindness in the way you look at your friends; rarely do people appear so openly devout."

"If I'm being honest with you, your Majesty – I've never been called anything close to devout in my life."

The Queen smiled at her, "Perhaps it takes the right people to acknowledge the good in us; I'm sure each of your crewmates is aware of how much you care for them."

Mai sighed, "I hope so."

A roaring laughter echoed then across the island, and they both looked up above the trees to see the two giants once again facing each other in duel.

"Gabababa! Oi, Dorry – wasn't that ale refreshing after so many years?"

Aye! Like the nectar of the gods!"

Their grips tightened on their weapons, and with a resounding echo their blades clashed; though it was barely until the fourth or fifth strike when the difference in strength became obvious.

"What's wrong, Dorry?!" Broggy roared as he swung his axe, "You seem off today!"

"I'm as good as ever!" Dorry replied as he raised his sword to block, but then –

"What?!" Mai exclaimed, and her jaw dropped in shock.

"Got you now!"

Dorry fell back, "A century…"

"It was a long battle!"

Broggy swung his axe, and Dorry fell to his knees.

"What the hell?!" Mai yelled in frustration, "Why did he fall back?! Why did Dorry _trip_?!"

And then, from somewhere across the forest, "WHO ARE YOU?!" Luffy's voice echoed, "SHOW YOURSELF!"

She heard what her captain said, and then the realization clicked and her eyes went wide.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry," Mai said in a calm tone, her expression firm and her eyebrows narrowed, "but we'll have to meet with the others – someone meddled in the fight, and Luffy just said that we're gonna kick their ass."

* * *

It was a lot more difficult than expected to navigate through the thick jungle vegetation to where they last saw the giants standing; but when they finally reached the clearing, Mai and the Queen were met with a terrible sight – the two giants were on the ground, Dorry bloodied and unconscious and Broggy pinned down with knives thrust through his hands and feet. There were also two men and two women who didn't belong to their crew, and they were standing near a giant, rotating structure (_'It's so tacky…')_.

"Who are those people?" Mai asked, and squinted her eyes to focus her vision on the three figures standing on the pillar, "Wait – "

"A giant without hands and feet," she heard a familiar voice say, "is still more useful than a dead man."

"Huh?"

'_This can't be good.'_

"I can move too," the familiar voice continued, "if I cut off my legs."

"HUH?!" she exclaimed in bewilderment, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Zoro grinned widely with determination, "How 'bout we crush these guys together?"

He unsheathed one sword, and Broggy laughed wholeheartedly, "You're pretty cocky – "

"YEAH, HE FUCKING IS!"

"I'd almost lost my will to fight, but I'm with you," the giant proclaimed, and he gave Zoro a wide grin in return, "I like your spirit!"

"I'm with you, too!" Vivi exclaimed resolutely, "I must fight to save my country!"

Zoro narrowed his eyebrows, "Good."

"Oh, for fucks' sake," Mai rolled her eyes, "Your Majesty, could you please stay and hide somewhere nearby while I go save my crew?"

"Of course darling, don't worry about me," the Queen laughed as she jumped off Mai's shoulder and onto a nearby branch, "you yourself know how stealthy we Dwarves can be."

Mai nodded – and within a second, with movements too quick to be seen, she was in the air in front of the man with the sunglasses, her teeth bared and swords drawn for a strike.

Mr. Five leapt back barely in time to dodge the attack, and when her feet met the ground all four opponents were encircling her.

"Wait, is that – "

"Yajiko Mai?!" the man with the strange hair exclaimed, and his accomplices readied their fighting stances.

"Huh?" Mai raised an eyebrow, and when she locked eyes with the man who spoke her name, her expression turned sinister, "How do you know who I am, Mr. Three?"

"How do _you _know who _I _am?!" Mr. Three replied, gritting his teeth.

She shrugged, "The big _three_ on your head kinda gives it away, man."

"Ah," he blinked twice, and only after he realized he'd lost focus did he reinforce his battle-stance, "Doesn't matter! That insane bounty of yours will be ours as of today!"

Mai chuckled, "Oh?"

But before either side could leap for an attack, something flew through the air between them and crashed loudly into the nearby trees.

"What was that?"

"Usopp! Bird! **Get 'em!**"

"All right!"

"Quack!"

"Luffy! Usopp! Caroo!" their navigator called from under the pillar, "Batter these creeps beyond recognition and send them flying!"

"You got it!" their captain said resolutely, slamming his fist into his palm, and now he stood in line with Usopp, Mai and Caroo opposite the four Baroque Works agents, "These guys spoiled the giants' battle – I won't let them get away with it!"

"This is the man with the highest bounty in the East Blue?" Miss Valentine said, "Seems like the Navy has lowered their standards."

"Man," Mai said in a dull tone, "that's a stupid fucking hat."

Miss Valentine and Miss Goldenweek both scoffed.

"Excuse me?!"

"I was actually talking about Mr. Three," she said as she turned towards them, "But now that I look at you – I can see why you'd get confused."

"_Bitch!_"

"Hey, never mind that!" Vivi yelled, "Get us out of this thing, you guys!"

The three Strawhats and the duck turned towards the pillar, but only Mai stepped forward.

"I can handle it, captain."

"Shishi," Luffy snickered, "Great."

"I can't let you do that," Mr. Three said with a smirk, and as wax started to drip from the tips of his fingers, he readied his stance directly in Mai's path.

But she merely laughed at the threat, and she pulled out a cigarette to place it between her lips.

"Do you have a choice?"

And with that – she vanished.

"Wha – where did she go?!"

"Here," sounded her voice from somewhere above, and they all traced her to the top of the pillar – she was using the flame of one of the candles to light her cigarette.

"What are you doing up there?!" Nami yelled, "And Zoro, why are you bleeding?!"

Mai peered downwards over the edge to see Nami, Zoro and Vivi still being slowly encapsulated in hard wax; and now there was blood gushing out of the swordsman's legs.

"What happened?" she asked, "Are you hurt?"

"Nah," came the answer as expected, "I only managed to cut about halfway through 'em. Oi, Mai!"

"Yeah?"

"Care to break this thing down?" Zoro said with a grin, "Luffy's probably gonna finish up in the meantime."

"Sure," she chuckled, and turning back to the center of the candelabra, she disappeared from view once again.

"You witch!" Mr. Three exclaimed, "I won't let you ruin – "

A loud thud echoed then, followed by a thundering crack, and Mr. Three's eyes popped out of his head.

"_WHAT?!"_

The pillar split down the middle – its two halves collapsed to each side with a shatter, and Mai landed on her feet unscathed.

"WOAH!" Luffy beamed gleefully, "That was so cool!"

"MY _ARTWORK_! How dare you?!" Mr. Three fumed, and from his arm came shooting at her a pillar of wax, "Candle Lock!"

But Luffy jumped in before it trapped her and stuck his leg in it, and when he landed from his jump in front of the now destroyed candelabra, he seemed almost _too_ excited.

Mai noted her captain's expression and his weaponized foot and she turned to the Baroque Works agents with laughter, "You're screwed now!"

"We'll see about that – Candle _Champion!_"

His own wax enveloped him briefly and overwhelmingly, and Mr. Three emerged equipping a giant battle suit.

"This wax is stronger than steel!" he proclaimed.

"He once took down a pirate worth 43 million berries with that thing," Mr. Five explained.

"That's his masterpiece!" Ms. Valentine added with a gasp.

"Slap some paint on me, Ms. Goldenweek, so that I can finish Strawhat once and for all!"

"Then can I rest?" asked the girl, but before she got an answer, she'd already coated the _Candle Champion _with just a few brushstrokes.

"Damn," Mai muttered, "She's good – _shit!"_

"What is it?" Luffy yelled, "Gomu Gomu no _Pistol_!"

"Luffy – they're already hardened!"

"What?!"

"No time to be distracted," Mr. Three emerged in front of him, "Championship Fight… Little Garden!"

"Gomu Gomu no Tonkachi!"

Something exploded nearby then, and Mai turned quickly to her right – there, Usopp stood enveloped in smoke, and with a splatter of blood from his mouth he fell to the ground on his back.

"_Usopp_!"

"Don't you get it?" Mr. Five mocked, "You have no chance of winning!"

"Bastard," Mai grit her teeth, "Now you're gonna pay!"

And while she jumped and attacked both Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine, neither of the Barogue Works agents saw Usopp hand Caroo the rope, nor did they see him douse the rope in oil.

"Mai!" he called, "Get ready – it's about to get hot!"

She grinned widely and menacingly, and on the mark of Usopp's "Now!", she jumped again at Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine, grabbing them both by the collars of their shirts; and they had no time to react – she launched them back at the candelabra, and when Usopp exclaimed "Kaen Boshi!", everything burst into flames.

"That's a lot of heat," Luffy huffed, "will they be okay?!"

"Screw you, Strawhat!" Mr. Three exclaimed, his wax battle suit having melted away amid the flames, "How dare you and your crew ruin my candelabra!"

"Hey! Come back here!"

But Mr. Three was already running away into the forest, Miss Goldenweek close behind him – and without a moment of consideration, Luffy and Caroo followed.

"Off they go…" Mai sighed, wiping the sweat off her eyebrow.

"Now you've done it!" Miss Valentine exclaimed, and not a moment later her leg was barely missing Mai's head by a hair.

"Oi," Mai leapt back with a bored frown, and she would've made quick work of her opponent, but –

"_Shit_ _– _Usopp!"

"You lousy pirates," Mr. Five growled, and he was holding Usopp above the ground by the throat, "I'll make quick work of you with my full body blast – not even your bones will be left when I'm done!"

"Fuck_ – _"

"Now you're mine!" Miss Valentine said with a grin and she launched herself at Mai, "Ten Thousand Kilo – "

But before she could land her attack, she was knocked ou.

"Flaming… Oni Giri!"

And so was Mr. Five.

"Took you guys long enough," Mai said with a relieved chuckle.

Nami and Vivi sheathed their weapons.

"Could've done without the fire, honestly."

"Hey," Usopp croaked, "You don't get to choose – you're lucky you're still alive."

"Yeah, and besides," Mai jerked her thumb at Zoro, "he wouldn't be able to flex for no reason like that if there wasn't fire."

"Oi," Zoro glared at her, "You gotta learn to be grateful – you don't get to see something like that every day."

She looked up at Broggy then, who was sitting up slowly and was giving them all the widest grin imaginable.

"Yeah," she muttered to herself, "I guess you really don't."

* * *

Luffy easily defeated Mr. Three and Caroo easily defeated Ms. Goldenweek; and they were now gathered on the clearing, and teardrops the size of boulders were falling from Broggy's eyes.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"Even his tears are gigantic!"

"They're like a waterfall!"

"He's gonna sink the island!"

"Look, a rainbow!"

"Quack!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"My ears…!"

"I know how he feels!"

Then Dorry sat up with a grunt, and everyone's eyes bugged out of their heads.

"I must've passed out…"

"Dorry…" Broggy sobbed, and he appeared unable to believe his eyes, "But how…?"

"Mr. Giant!"

"Dorry!"

"It was probably the weapons," Dorry said with a huff.

"The weapons?" Usopp asked, wiping his tears, "Oh, I get it!"

"Even weapons forged in Elbaf get worn out," the giant said with a weak smile, "in a battle between giants that lasts a hundred years."

"That's incredible!"

"It's a miracle!"

"Broggy, don't hug me so tightly… my wound – "

"I'm so happy you're alive, old friend! Gabababa!"

"Gegyagyagyagya!"

"A miracle? It's no surprise," Zoro said, a faint smile on his lips as he rested his sword on his shoulder, "Those weapons haven't been taken care of properly for a hundred years; and neither have their owners."

"This is a glorious day!" Broggy proclaimed loudly, and their laughter echoed across the island of Little Garden.

"I give thanks to the gods of Elbaf! Gababababa!"


End file.
